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ANECDOTES 



OF 



PUBLIC MEN 



BY 



JOHN W. FORNEY. 



ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE 
WASHINGTON SUNDAY CHRONICLE AND PHILADELPHIA PRESS. 




NEW YORK: 

HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
1873- 






I 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by 

Harper & Brothers, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



^^ 



7<r 

TO 



DANIEL DOUGHERTY: 



UNFORGOTTEN AND UNFORGETTING. 



I HAVE known you, my dear Dougherty, for nearly thirty 
years ; when your hair, now turning gray, was glossy black ; 
when both of us were struggling young men. You have met 
most of the characters I have attempted to describe in these 
plain and unpretending " Anecdotes," and I feel that I take no 
liberty in dedicating this volume to you. From Franklin Pierce 
to Ulysses S. Grant, including most of the intermediate actors, 
whether statesmen or lawyers, soldiers or politicians, men of 
work or men of leisure, the artist or the artisan, the priest or 
the player, you can at least do justice to the motive that has led 
me to speak of all of them impartially and generously. Instead 
of One Hundred Anecdotes of Public Men, as originally in- 
tended, you will find interwoven into these pages four times as 
many references to the characters who figured in the past and 
will be remembered in the future. One lesson I have tried to 
inculcate : that while none of us are indispensable, the good we 
do in our life is sure to be kindly, even if briefly, remembered 
after that life ends. And still another lesson, so well taught 
in your own career — the lesson of self-reliance, of sincere 
friendship, of personal independence and integrity, of toleration 
and forbearance. It is a maxim, that when men begin to write 



Viii DEDICATION. *^ 

their recollections they are getting old ; but you have taught 
me in our long and unbroken devotion to each other that noth- 
ing keeps the heart so young and so fresh as the habit of re- 
viving the best deeds of our fellow-creatures and forgetting the 
worst. As I glance through these chapters, written hastily, 
often in the rush of editorial work, I am surprised to realize 
how much one man can condense into a letter repeated every 
week for over two years ; and if those who read this book will 
enjoy as much pleasure in perusing it as I did in writing it, 
and will sympathize with me in the spirit with which it was 
composed, I shall be abundantly compensated. 

J. W. Forney. 
Philadelphia, June 2, 1873. 



ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



In 1850, after the triumph of the Compromise Measures, 
Henry Clay visited Philadelphia, and stayed at the American 
House, on Chestnut Street, opposite Independence Hall. As I 
had supported these Measures in opposition to the extreme 
followers of the Southern Democrats, in the columns of The 
Fe?msylva7iia7i, I felt anxious to call on Mr. Clay, the leader of 
that his last great work. Ex-Mayor John Swift, who is still liv- 
ing in Philadelphia, in the 84th year of his age, dropped in at 
my editorial rooms the morning after Mr. Clay's arrival, in com- 
pany with my esteemed friend, Edwin Forrest, the tragedian. 
Mr. Swift, who had been one of Mr. Clay's active and unselfish 
champions, gladly acceded to my request to be presented to 
Mr. Clay, whom I had never met, and had firmly opposed when 
he was the Whig candidate for the Presidency in 1844. For- 
rest expressed the wish to accompany us; so we three walked 
over to the hotel and sent up our cards, and were quickly ad- 
mitted to the great man's parlor. He looked feeble and worn 
— he was then over seventy-three years old — but he soon 
brightened. Anxious to rouse him, I quietly ventured to sug- 
gest that I had heard the speech of Pierre Soule, Senator in 
Congress from Louisiana — an extremist especially distasteful 
to Mr. Clay — and that I thought it a very thorough and able 
presentation of the side adverse to the Compromise Measures. 
I saw the old man's eye flash as I spoke, and was not surprised 

A 2 



lO ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

when, with much vehemence, he proceeded to denounce Soule. 
After denying that he was a statesman, and insisting that there 
were others far more effective in the opposition, he wound up 
by saying : " He is nothing but an actor, sir — a mere actor." 
Then suddenly recollecting the presence of our favorite trage- 
dian, he dropped his tone, and waved his hand, as he turned to 
Mr. Forrest — "/ mean, 7?iy dear sir, a mere French actor P^ AVe 
soon after took our leave, and as we descended the stairs, For- 
rest turned to Mr. Swift and myself, and said : " Mr. Clay has 
proved, by the skill with which he can change his manner, and 
the grace with which he can make an apology, that he is a 
better actor than Soule !" 

I never met Daniel Webster, as was natural on account of 
my connection with the Democratic party, but I often recall 
two incidents in connection with him. It was, I think, about 
the time Robert J.Walker's tariff of 1846 was passed that he 
came to Philadelphia, and stopped at Hartwell's Washington 
House, on Chestnut Street, above Seventh, the guest of the 
Whigs, whom he addressed at a splendid banquet in the cele- 
brated Chinese Museum, on Ninth Street. Extensive prepara- 
tions had been made for the occasion. The company was nu- 
merous, including hundreds of ladies in the galleries, the feast 
superb, the wines delicious, and Mr. Webster did not rise to re- 
spond to the toast in his honor till late in the evening. Short- 
hand reporting was not then what it is now, a swift, accurate, 
and magical science ; and I knew the Whig papers, which re- 
solved to print the great man's speech entire, would be delayed 
till long past their usual hour next morning. The town was 
hungry to see it, and its surprise may be readily conceived when 
at dawn of the succeeding day The Pe?insylvanian, the Demo- 
cratic organ, then under my direction, appeared with Mr. "Web- 
ster's Great Speech on the Tariff." I had taken his old speech 
on free trade, delivered in 1824, when he was a member of the 
House, and converted it into a Supplement, of which many 



DANIEL WEBSTER. II 

thousands were printed and sold before the joke was discovered. 
The Democrats were delighted — the Whigs furious, especially 
Mr. Greeley, of The Tribune^ who had come over to hear Mr. 
Webster, and who bought several copies of the old speech, 
thinking it the new one. But Mr. Webster enjoyed it hugely; 
and when his friend, George Ashmun, handed him my Extra, 
he laughed heartily, and said, " I think Forney has printed a 
much better speech than the one I made last night." Was 
not that genuine manliness? The other incident happened 
after his defeat for the Whig nomination for President in 1852. 
I was then Clerk of the House of Representatives of the United 
States, and one of the editors of the Washington Union^ pub- \ 
lished by that fine specimen of manhood, General Robert Arm- \ 
strong, of Tennessee. Every body knew that Mr. Webster keenly '• 
felt his rejection by the party he had so honored and served. 
The brilliant effort of Rufus Choate to make him the candidate 
in the Baltimore Whig National Convention, though ineffectual 
to prevent the foreordained selection of the brave but vain-glo- 
rious Scott, had gone to the hearts of the people, adding not 
only to the grief of Mr. Webster's friends, but, as the result 
proved, to the forces of the Democrats, who were largely as- 
sisted by their old opponents in the ensuing election which 
made Franklin Pierce President. Indifferent to or ignorant of 
this fact, a large concourse of the Whigs of Washington City 
concluded to serenade Mr. Webster at his residence on Louisi- 
ana Avenue. I followed the procession. It was an exquisite 
moonlight summer evening. The crowd was dense ; the music 
delicious; the cheers inspiring. A long time elapsed before 
the statesman appeared, and when he did he looked like an- 
other Coriolanus. Robed in his dressing-gown, he spoke a few 
minutes, but in a manner I shall never forget. His voice, al- 
ways clear and sonorous, rolled with deeper volume over the 
crowd. There was no bitterness, but an inexpressible sadness 
in his words, and when he bade them good-night, and said he 



12 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

should sleep well and rise with the lark at the purpling of the 
dawn — dropping no syllable in favor of General Scott — the ser- 
enaders retired as if they had heard a funeral sermon. I walked 
to my editorial den and wrote a leader on the scene, so full of 
the emptiness of human ambition and the ingratitude of polit- 
ical parties. The following verse from Byron closed the ar- 
ticle : 

"As the struck eagle, stretched upon the plain, 
No more through rolling clouds to soar again, 
Viewed his own feather on the fatal dart. 
And winged the shaft that quivered in his heart, 
Keen were his pangs, but keener far to feel 
He nursed the pinion which impell'd the steel ; 
While the same plumage that had warmed his nest. 
Drank the last life-blood of his bleeding breast." 

Franklin Pierce succeeded to the Presidency in 1853, aided 
by many Old-line Whigs and by most of the Anti-slavery Dem- 
ocrats now in the Republican ranks. The political events of 
his administration are historical. Let me say a word about the 
man. He was at once the kindest, most courteous, and most 
considerate public officer I ever knew. As President he was a 
model of high breeding. Receptive, cordial, hospitable to his 
political friends, he delighted to welcome his political adversa- 
ries, and to make them at home. Let me give one specimen 
of his liberality. It was my misfortune to differ from the South- 
ern leaders at an early day, and they resolved to defeat my re- 
election as Clerk of the House. My mistaken " Forrest Letter" 
was made their pretext. I say mistaken, for, though I wrote it 
with the most honest purpose, I did not venture to defend the 
unjust but plausible construction that I had written it to obtain 
false testimony against a woman. My friends, and none more 
than Mr. Forrest himself, knew the motive that prompted me ; 
but I have never stopped to explain it. That letter was seized 
upon by the Southern leaders, who knew my settled determina- 
tion to resist the further encroachments of slavery ; and they 



FRANKLIN PIERCE. 



13 



used it with so much effect that my defeat was believed to be 
sure. 

On the night of the caucus, President Pierce sent for me and 
told me that he believed I could not be renominated, but that 
he was resolved, if I was not, to send my name into the Senate 
for an important mission to one of the South American States. 
I got through the struggle triumphantly, but I can never forget 
the act of the man who, in the darkest hour, extended his help- 
ing hand. Nor did his magnanimity stop here. Many of his 
adherents believed I ought to have supported him for President 
in 1856, when his name was used as a candidate for re-election; 
but he said : " I do not complain of you, my friend, for going 
with your State for Mr. Buchanan, whom you have known so 
long, though I fear you will be disappointed if he is President." 
I could not approve the removal of Governor Reeder, of Kansas, 
for his refusal to help to make Kansas a slave State, in 1854, '5, 
any more than I could the removal by Mr. Buchanan of Gover- 
nor Walker, in 1858, for his refusal to sanction the Lecompton 
frauds ; but how different the toleration of Pierce from the per- 
secution of his successor. While the whole Democratic press, 
was denouncing Reeder and applauding his removal. President 
Pierce did not ask me to join in the crusade against my friend, 
and the Washington Unio7i, of which I was then the editor, con- 
tained no line from my pen against him. Five years later I 
was proscribed and hunted down, simply because I would not 
sanction a proceeding far more despotic and unjust. While I 
was in the midst of this struggle with the Administration of Mr. 
Buchanan, I visited New England to see ex-President Pierce. 
He was, as usual, in earnest sympathy with the extreme South ; 
but he received me and treated me like a brother, and the day 
I spent with him lives in my memory like a picture painted by 
angel hands. 

As I find leisure I will try to give you a few more anecdotes 
of the public men I have met or known, or heard others speak 



14 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

of. These recollections will be free from personal or partisan 
prejudice. I propose to show that many of those who have 
served the State, however abused and misrepresented, were not 
without the elements of a true humanity. 

[January 15, 187 1.] 



11. 

There is no habit of modern education so happy as that of 
keeping a regular diary of events. It provides the choicest 
of all historical material. Pleasant to cultivate, it constitutes 
the most profitable and pleasant of all our reading. From 
Pepys, in 1669, to Crabb Robinson, in 1869, with the interme- 
diate works of Barrington, BoswelFs Johnson, and Walpole's 
Letters — nothing survives so entirely the wreck and waste of 
time as these daily and delightful records of human experience. 
It is said that the journal of John Quincy Adams is the best 
monument of his stupendous industry. He kept it during all 
the working years of his working life. Reared to scholarship, 
diplomacy, and statecraft, he began it with his youth, and to the 
final hour, when he exclaimed, " This is the last of earth," ob- 
served the custom. The rare summary of the second President 
of a really great family, covering nearly two generations, has 
not yet seen the light, and will not, I understand, till most of 
the actors of whom it treats, doubtless with caustic freedom, 
have been gathered to their fathers. Other Presidents and 
statesmen were not so industrious, with perhaps the possible 
exception of Mr. Buchanan, whose biography has not appeared, 
owing to unexpected events. When it is published, we have 
his own pledge that it will be unstained by the use of any pri- 
vate correspondence, as we have the assurance from the high 
abilities of Hon. W.B. Reed, the gentleman selected to prepare 



AT WASHINGTON. 1 5 

it, that it will be a production of consummate interest. The 
diary of Mr. Buchanan will be a treasure to his historian. 

One realizes the broad distinction between memory and mem- 
oranda, in the attempt to make the one a substitute for the 
other. The written record of a Life, which is a photograph of 
every day's doings, is incomparably superior to the faded and 
fading images of the mind. Hence the failure of those who 
give dates and names from their unaided recollections. If I do 
not fall into this error in these familiar sketches, it will be be- 
cause I shall adventure nothing calculated to give offense, noth- 
ing not susceptible of easy vindication and general credence. 

But I must emphasize the suggestion that our young men 
and young women can employ one or two hours every day no 
more agreeably and usefully than by keeping a journal. Begun 
after school-time while they are boys and girls, and continued 
as they advance in life, it will be at once monitor and guide to 
themselves, and may be of incalculable value in the crystalliza- 
tion of history. 

I remember a dinner-party at the time I lived in Washington 
during the administration of General Pierce, which requires no 
diary to keep fresh in my heart. It took place at my residence, 
and in the house now known as the Waverley, on Eighth Street, 
back oiThe Chronicle office, where I resided up to 1856, when I 
left Washington to help make Mr. Buchanan President, and 
never returned, save to join in the work of overthrowing him 
after he broke the promise of justice to Kansas, which alone 
elected him. There were present some twenty of the leaders 
of the Democratic party, North and South, among them Mr. 
Slidell, Mr. Breckinridge, and I think Mr. Douglas. One of my 
guests was Dr. William Elder, my friend at that day, though we 
differed widely about slavery, just as he is to-day, when we 
closely agree in opposing it. I had met him on a former visit 
to Philadelphia, and invited him to come to Washington and 
sojourn under my roof. He came on the evening before the 



1 6 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

party in question, somewhat to the consternation of those of 
my family who knew his pronounced abolitionism, and the 
equally pronounced pro-slavery views of those who were to 
dine with me next day. But there was no help for it ; indeed, 
I was glad to meet the gifted and polished Doctor. My own 
mind was far from clear as to the justice of the course of my 
party in regard to Kansas, and I made no concealment of my 
doubts. The angry protests of the North against that contem- 
plated villainy were being heard in the elections. The De- 
mocracy had just been unhorsed, right and left, North and South, 
by the Know-Nothing storm, and the old leaders knew that 
meant something more than hostility to foreigners and Catho- 
lics, and was in fact the first mutterings of a far greater tem- 
pest. The Southern leaders of the day were not yet ready to 
hazard a rebellion. They were eager to conciliate Northern 
anti-slavery men ; and those I knew were always gentlemen in 
social life. This was especially so with Slidell, Benjamin, 
Breckinridge, Cobb, etc. And so, when the restraint of the 
first course or two was thawed by a generous draught of cham- 
pagne, those who sat at my board were quickly attracted by the 
agreeable manners and dazzling wit of my abolition friend. He 
gradually monopolized their whole attention by his comments 
on books and men, and his full knowledge of the resources of 
their own section. 

At last one of them said, " Pray, Doctor Elder, how is it that 
one of your tastes and learning should be so opposed to South- 
ern rights and institutions ?" That opened the ball, and, noth- 
ing loth, he answered with a story I can never forget ; a story 
which I believe has never been forgotten by any one who heard 
it: "When I lived in Pittsburgh, gentlemen," said the Doctor, 
" where I had the honor to vote for James G. Birney for Presi- 
dent in 1844, being one of a very, very small party, which will 
soon control Pennsylvania by an Andrew Jackson majority, we 
had a strange character among us who occasionally made 



DR. WILLIAM ELDER. 1 7 

speeches against slavery, and whose peculiarities were that 
when he became excited he gave way to uncontrollable tears 
and oaths. I always went to hear him, for there was an odd 
fascination about him. One night he was advertised to speak 
against the fugitive-slave law — a measure which roused him al- 
most to madness — and 1 was among the audience. He closed 
his harangue with a passage something like this : 'Let us apply 
this law to ourselves, brethren and sisters. I live about a mile 
out of town, and rarely get back to my quiet home till evening ; 
and the first to welcome me at the garden-gate are my little girl 
Mary and my bright-eyed son Willie — the joy of my heart, the 
stars of my life. Suppose, when I get home to-morrow, I meet 
my wife, instead of my children, at the door, and on asking for 
my darlings, she tells me that a man called John C. Calhoun, 
of South Carolina, and another man called Henry Clay, of 
Kentucky, had come, in my absence, and carried them down 
South into slavery? How would you feel in such a case? How 
do you think I would feel ? What would I do ? you ask. Well, 
I will tell you. I would follow the aforesaid John C. Calhoun 
and Henry Clay ; follow them to the South ; follow them to the 
gates of death and hell ; yes, into hell, and there cram the red- 
hot coals down their d — d, infernal throats !' 

"And this outburst," added Dr. Elder, "was punctuated with 
alternate sobs and swearing. I have given you one of the many 
causes, gentlemen, that have confirmed me in my abolitionism." 

It is impossible to convey an idea of the manner in which 
Dr. Elder told this incident, or the effect produced upon the 
Southern men around him. They listened with profound and 
breathless interest, and more than one with a pale cheek and 
moistened eye ; and though they did not say they agreed with 
the eloquent Doctor, I saw that they respected him for the can- 
dor and warmth with which he had replied to their equally can- 
did question. 

[January 22, 1S71.] 



1 8 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



III. 



In Theodore Parker's frank and sympathetic analysis of the 
character of George Washington, he speaks of his skill and 
good fortune in the selection and purchase of real estate, and 
his fine forecast of the destiny of Virginia and the West. In 
this respect Stephen A. Douglas resembled the Father of his 
Country. He had an inspiration for land, and he delighted to 
tell his friends what his country must be in the course of years, 
if our wilderness were opened up by wise and generous legisla- 
tion. He had none of the small arts that would dwarf great 
enterprises by counting the profits of those who led in them. 
He justly believed that where there are large risks there should 
be large recompense. I remember — who of middle age does 
not ? — when the proposition made to tax the people of Phila- 
delphia and the State for the construction of the Pennsylvania 
Central roused a hurricane of opposition. We were over- 
whelmed by sinister prophecies ; and yet the seed sown by the 
success of that proposition has already produced a work which 
in another generation will carry the trade of the Orient through 
Philadelphia, and open to it a commerce with Europe infinitely 
greater than any ever dreamed of in our wildest aspirations. 
The Pennsylvania Central, like the Mississippi River, is fed by 
many branches, which it feeds in turn, and with its manifold 
tributaries capable of extending itself to all the nations of the 
South, giving wealth to them in bounteous supply, and receiv- 
ing in exchange other riches and bounties. Had the bold, 
brave men who first pushed it failed, their reputations would 
have rotted in the category of the projectors who began other 
magnificent schemes in other centuries, and broke only because 
they were ahead of their time. 

Stephen A. Douglas died too soon, for many reasons, and 
chiefly because, had he lived, he would have enjoyed the ripe 



STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 1 9 

fulfillment of many of his predictions and labors. But I began 
this sketch rather to relate an incident illustrative of his kind- 
ness to his friends than of his extraordinary prescience in the 
matter of the development of the public domain. 

He had, as I have said, the inspiration of the soil. To him 
I am indebted for my first and only speculation — the better to 
be recollected because it was successful. And the incident is 
the more interesting because, just now, the region where I made 
my money is the point whence one of those empire lines is go- 
ing forth to penetrate the wilderness and to convert it into a 
garden — I mean the North Pacific Railroad. I suspect that 
the Civilizer and Christianizer Jay Cooke, who pioneers this 
mighty work, was nearly as poor a man as I was when Stephen 
A. Douglas came to me one day in 1853, and said, looking up 
at the map, " How would you like to buy a share in Superior 
City, at Fond du Lac, the head of Lake Superior ?" and, before 
I could answer, he got on a chair and told me that from that 
point, or near it, would start the greatest railroad in the world, 
except the one on the thirty-second parallel, just surveyed by 
Captains George B. McClellan, John Pope, and others, which 
was to open up the South. " But," I said, " old fellow, I have 
no money, and to buy a share in the proposed location will re- 
quire much." "No," he replied, "I can secure you one for 

$2500, and you can divide it with ," naming one of the 

best of the future Confederates, " and he will be greatly 
obliged." I knew nothing of the location, had never been 
there, had no money of my own, but I saw Judge Douglas was 
in earnest and wanted to serve me, and when he left, I bor- 
rowed the $2500, bought a share, divided it with the Southern 
gentleman referred to, who honorably paid his $1250; and 
after cutting my share into five parts, sold and gave three fifths 
to other friends, and with my two fifths bought the Waverley 
House, in Washington. The proceeds of my moiety of the one 
share of Superior City realized $21,000. For that I was in- 



20 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

debted to Stephen A. Douglas — God bless him ! I believe my 
Confederate friend has held on to his interest, and I shall be 
glad if he is as fortunate as I was. Duluth is now the fashion, 
and I wish it all success, because it can not grow rich without 
reflecting some of its wealth upon Superior City, its near neigh- 
bor. 

In 1868, the Republicans of Pennsylvania, by a unanimous 
vote, put me at the head of their delegation to the Republican 
National Convention, to vote for General Grant as their candi- 
date for President. The first thing I did, after getting to Chi- 
cago, was to go out to look on the monument to Stephen A. 
Douglas, on the shore of Lake Michigan ; the next to visit the 
massive buildings of the Illinois Central Railroad Company, 
the enterprise which he alone carried through Congress. The 
monument was not complete, but the palatial edifices of the 
railroad were. I could not help it, but when I remembered 
how in Paris and London, just the year before, I had seen Illi- 
nois Central securities quoted among the consols of the oldest 
governments, and that that road was enriching all connected 
with it — I say I could not help, as I thought of these things, 
drawing the contrast between the vital and vigorous champion- 
ship of Douglas of this stupendous work and the studied neg- 
lect of his memory by those who have profited by it. After 
passing through the magnificent depot and the adjacent build- 
ings, I said to an employe, " Who owns the most stock in the 
Illinois Central ?" " Indeed, I do not know, sir," was his reply. 
" Well, my friend, I think the man who ought to own the most 
of it, and whose children should be most benefited by it, was 
Stephen A. Douglas." I think the man may have heard of 
Douglas, but it was clear to me, from his look, that he thought 
I was a lunatic. 

[January 29, 1871.] 



AMATEUR EDITORS. 21 



IV. 



Many of our public men are capital amateur editors. Thomas 
H. Benton was a valuable and vigorous contributor to The Globe 
in the war upon the United States Bank. His style was trench- 
ant and elevated, and his facts generally impregnable. James 
Buchanan was a frequent writer in my old paper, The Lancaster 
Intelligencer 6^ younial^ and in The Pennsylvanian. His diction 
was cold and unsympathetic, but exact, clear, and condensed. 
His precise and elegant chirography was the delight of the 
compositors. Judge Douglas wrote little, but suggested much. 
His mind teemed with "points." I never spent an hour with 
him which did not furnish me with new ideas. He grasped 
and understood most questions thoroughly. When he read 
was always a mystery. Social to a degree, dining out almost 
daily when not entertaining his friends at his own hospitable 
home, visiting strangers at their hotels, leading in debate or 
counseling in committee, he was rarely at fault for a date or a 
fact. He was a treasure to an editor, because he possessed the 
rare faculty of throwing new light upon every subject in the 
shortest possible time. Ex- Attorney-General J. S. Black would 
have made a superb journalist, and was a ready and useful con- 
tributor. His style was terse, fresh, and scholarly. Caleb 
Gushing is another statesman who once delighted in editorial 
writing, and still occasionally varies his heavy professional toil 
by the same agreeable relaxation. I have known him to stand 
up to his tall desk and dash off column after column on for- 
eign and domestic politics, on art, on finance, with astonishing 
rapidity and ease. Unlike his aggressive successor. General 
Gushing is anxious to end his career at peace with all the 
world. It is said that he is now receiving more money for 
legal services than any man in his profession. Of course his 
labors are heavy, but he lightens them by his calm and cheer- 



2 2 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

ful philosophy, his cultivated literary tastes, and his love of the 
society of the tolerant and refined. 

Writing of Thomas H. Benton recalls an incident that hap- 
pened during the Presidency of James K. Polk, when Mr. Bu- 
chanan was Secretary of State. Colonel Benton was a sharp 
thorn in the side of the Administration on the Oregon question. 
His criticism was merciless, and stung the President and his 
premier to the quick. Accordingly The Peimsylvanian was 
called upon to review his positions, which was done in three 
articles that bore, he thought, distinct official ear-marks. Indig- 
nant at my temerity, he addressed me a curt note, demanding 
the name of the author of the articles and threatening a Senato- 
rial investigation. I responded by assuming the whole respon- 
sibility, and took the train for Washington to anticipate and 
watch events. I quartered, as usual, with Mr. Buchanan, and 
there waited for the summons. None came, however. Just 
before returning to my post in Philadelphia I was invited to a 
reception at the British Minister's, and in one of the currents 
of the throng was carried into a corner where they were serving 
out the seductive compound known as Roman punch. I had 
hardly got a glass of it in my hand when I found myself in the 
presence of Colonel Benton. He greeted me kindly, and as we 
enjoyed our punch he quietly remarked, " I got your letter, but 
I did not proceed because I know you assumed the responsi- 
bility that belonged to another." It is needless to add that 
the Secretary of State was as much relieved as I was by the 
majestical Missouri Senator. 

Although Buchanan and Benton never were intimate friends, 
the latter went to Cincinnati in 1856 to advocate Buchanan as 
the Democratic candidate for President, and supported him 
when nominated against his own son-in-law, General John C. 
Fremont. Nobody was more surprised than Buchanan himself. 
He knew that Benton disliked him as sincerely as he esteemed 
General Fremont. But the matter was easily explained. The 



DAVID C. BRODERICK. 23 

Missouri statesman believed that the Pennsj^lvanian candidate 
would, if elected, be true to the great work of justice to Kansas; 
that he would check the design of forcing slavery into that Ter- 
ritory ; and that he would tranquilize the country by arresting 
the sectional tendencies of the times. He lived, like hundreds 
of thousands of others, to realize his mistake ; but he passed 
off before the war that resulted from the absence of a little 
courage to maintain the most solemn pledge ever made to a 
confiding people. Thomas Hart Benton died the loth of 
April, 1858. 

[February 4, 1871.] 



David C. Broderick, of California, was in some respects a re- 
markable character. Born in the District of Columbia in 1818, 
and killed in a duel in September of 1859, his short career was 
a succession of strange events. Twenty-five years of it were 
spent in New York in the rudest scenes, and more than ten 
among the turbulent men who then, as now, dominated over 
that great city. Of these he became the early and imperious 
leader — a leader blindly followed and blindly obeyed. But he 
never fell into their habits of dissipation, and perhaps his un- 
broken command over them resulted from his silent and sober 
nature. The foreman of a fire-company and the keeper of a 
saloon, he never lost his dignity, but would retire to his books 
whenever he had a moment of leisure. Removing to Califor- 
nia in 1849, he quickly secured the confidence of the people, 
and was elected by them to high and honorable positions. He 
was a useful member of the convention that adopted the first 
California constitution, and was two years in the State Senate, 
and president of that body. In 1856 he was elected a Senator 



24 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

in Congress for six years from the 4th of March, 1857. I had 
seen him but once before, in 1848, when Mr. Edwin Croswell, 
the well-known editor of the Albany Argus, who is still living 
in New York, greatly esteemed for his amiability and learning, 
visited my office in his company ; but when I met him a sec- 
ond time in Philadelphia, after his triumph and that of Mr. Bu- 
chanan, to whose Presidential aspirations he had given such 
effective aid, I felt as if I had known him intimately from boy- 
hood. We were nearly the same age, and had supported Mr. 
Buchanan from the same motive — that of settling the slavery 
question, at least for the time, by even-handed justice to the 
people of Kansas. California had been a secession rendez- 
vous from the day it became a part of the Union, but the 
Southern leaders there soon found in Broderick a stubborn and 
a dangerous enemy. His rough New York schooling had made 
him especially abhorrent of obedience to such tyrants, and so 
he grappled with them promptly. In a little more than six 
years he mounted over their heads into the most important 
offices, and when he elected himself to the United States Sen- 
ate he also magnanimously elected his adversary. Dr. W. M. 
Gwin, for the short term. But he was not long in Washington 
before he realized that the new President was his foe, and that 
the solemn pledge of justice to Kansas was not to be main- 
tained. The national patronage on the Pacific slope was con- 
centrated in the hands of his colleague, and the young Senator 
began his career by finding his friends stripped of the power 
they had fairly won. 

The disappointment was grievous, but it called out all his bet- 
ter nature. He devoted himself to his studies and his duties 
with renewed assiduity. He always lived like a gentleman. 
Generous to a fault, he delighted to have his friends around 
him. His bearing, his dress, his language, indicated none of 
the hard experience of his youth. He was fond of books, and 
was a rare judge of men. I have his picture before me as I 



SENATOR BRODERICK. 25 

write, and as I look into his dark eyes and watch his firm-set 
mouth I almost see the flash of the one and hear the good 
sense that often came from the other. 

There were not many of us in the Democratic ranks to stand 
up for fair play to Kansas. We started with a goodly array, 
but the offices of the Executive were too much for most of our 
associates, and when the final struggle came we were a cor- 
poral's guard indeed. Broderick was the soul of our little party. 
I understood how he managed men in New York and Califor- 
nia as I watched his intercourse with Senators and Representa- 
tives in that trying crisis. Some he would persuade, others he 
would denounce. He seemed to know the especial weakness 
to address ; but nothing was more potent than his appeal to 
the constituency of the hesitating member. " I tell you," he 
used to say to such as doubted, "you can make more reputa- 
tion by being an honest man instead of a rascal." 

Broderick was one of the few " self-made " men who did not 
boast of having been a mechanic. He was not like a famous 
ex-President who delighted to speak of his rise from the tailor's 
bench. He did not think a man any worse for having worked 
for his living at a trade, nor did he believe him any better. 
And this theory sprang from the belief that the laboring men 
of America are seldom true to the bright minds so often reared 
among them. His memorable words in reply to the haughty 
Hammond of South Carolina, on the 22d of March, 1858, after 
the latter had spoken of the producing class of the North as the 
" mudsills " of society, illustrate this theory. Mr. Broderick said : 

" I, sir, am glad that the Senator has spoken thus. It may 
have the effect of arousing in the working men that spirit that 
has been lying dormant for centuries. It may also have the 
effect of arousing the two hundred thousand men with pure 
skins in South Carolina, who are now degraded and despised 
by thirty thousand aristocratic slaveholders. It may teach 
them to demand what is the power — 

B 



26 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

" * Link'd with success, assumed and kept with skill, 
That moulds another's weakness to its will ; 
Wields with their hands, but still to them unknown, 
Makes even their mightiest deeds appear his own.' 

" I suppose, sir, the Senator from South Carolina did not in- 
tend to be personal in his remarks to any of his peers upon 
this floor. If I had thought so I would have noticed them at 
the time. I am, sir, with one exception, the youngest in years 
of the Senators upon this floor. It is not long since I served 
an apprenticeship of five years at one of the most laborious me- 
chanical trades pursued by man — a trade that from its nature 
devotes its follower to thought, but debars him from conversa- 
tion. I would not have alluded to this if it were not for the re- 
marks of the Senator from South Carolina; and the thousands 
who know that I am the son of an artisan and have been a me- 
chanic, would feel disappointed in me if I did not reply to him. 
I am not proud of this. I am sorry it is true. I would that I 
could have enjoyed the pleasures of life in my boyhood days ; 
but they were denied to me. I say this with pain. I have not 
the admiration for the men of the class from which I sprang 
that might be expected ; they submit too tamely to oppression, 
and are prone to neglect their rights and duties as citizens. 
But, sir, the class of society to whose toil I was born, under our 
form of government, will control the destinies of this nation. 
If I were inclined to forget my connection with them, or to deny 
that I sprang from them, this chamber would not be the place 
in which I could do either. While I hold a seat I have but to 
look at the beautiful capitals adorning the pilasters that sup- 
port this roof, to be reminded of my father's talent and to see 
his handiwork. 

" I left the scenes of my youth and manhood for the * Far 
West' because I was tired of the struggles and jealousies of 
men of my class, who could not understand why one of their 
fellows should seek to elevate his condition upon the common 



SENATOR BRODERICK. 2^ 

level. I made my new abode among strangers, where labor is 
honored. I had left without regret ; there remained no tie of 
blood to bind me to any being in existence. If I fell in the 
stncggle for reputation and fortime, there was 7io relative on earth 
to mourn my fall. The people of California elevated me to the 
highest office within their gift. My election was not the result 
of an accident. For years I had to struggle, often seeing the 
goal of ambition within my reach ; it was again and again taken 
from me by the aid of men of my own class. I had not only 
them to contend with, but almost the entire partisan press of 
my state was subsidized by Government money and patronage 
to oppose my election. I sincerely hope, sir, the time will come 
when such speeches as that from the Senator from South Caro- 
lina will be considered a lesson to the laborers of the nation." 

Prophetic words indeed ! 

The last time I saw Broderick was one night in April, 1859, 
at the corner of Sixth and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, where 
he took the omnibus to the New York depot, intending to sail 
in a few days for San Francisco. The shadow of his fate was 
upon him. He was much depressed. We had broken the Ad- 
ministration party to pieces in most of the Northern States, ob- 
literated the pro-slavery majority in the House, and had given 
prospective and substantial freedom to Kansas. Our little pha- 
lanx had made a breach in the columns of the Democracy that 
was to widen into a chasm never to be closed. California was 
to vote on the 7th of September, and Broderick was going back 
to meet his people. His magnificent campaign against the 
Southern policy of forcing slavery into Kansas had aroused the 
bitterest resentment, and the worst elements were organized 
against him in his own State. " I feel, my dear friend, that we 
shall never meet again. I go home to die. I shall abate no 
jot of my faith. I shall be challenged, I shall fight, and I shall 
be killed." These were his words. I tried to rally him on 
these forebodings ; told him he was young and brave, and would 



28 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

live to be even more honored in the years to come. " No," he 
said, with a sad smile I shall never forget; "no, it is best; I am 
doomed. You will live to write of me and to keep my memory 
green ; and now good-by forever." On the 7th of September, 
the very day of the election, I predicted the duel which took 
place on the 13th of the same month, and on the i6th my poor 
friend died from a wound received at the hands of the pro- 
slavery Democrat leader, David S. Terry, who was living at the 
last accounts in the State of Nevada. The Democrats carried 
the election on the 7th, and the heroic Broderick died on the 
1 6th. But the blood of the martyr was the seed of the redemp- 
tion of California. The people rose at the sight of a tragedy so 
deliberate, fore-jDlanned, and anticipated. Had Broderick fallen 
before the election of 1859 California would have repudiated 
the Buchanan Administration. He himself postponed the duel 
till the ballots were cast, and then he passed to his death. But 
that death saved California to the Union. The traitors who 
tried to hand her over to the rebellion were baffled by the up- 
rising that followed his sacrifice. The Broderick Democrats 
joined the Republicans and held California fast to her allegi- 
ance, and so proved at once their love of their great country 
and their gratitude to their unselfish leader. 

[February 12, 187 1.] 



VI. 

It is one of the penalties, if penalty it be, of those who ab- 
stain from national affairs, that they are rarely heard of outside 
their own vicinage. Many a mediocrity becomes a celebrity 
when his name figures in the Congressional yeas and nays, just 
as many a nobler intellect remains rooted to the spot of its 
birth, full of knowledge of a world that knows it not. There is 



CONRAD AND BARTON. 29 

hardly a county in the United States of which this statement is 
not true, more or less. There is not a reader of these sketches 
who can not point out eminent men of his own acquaintance 
who would suffer for want of national reputation if they had not 
studiously disregarded it, and honestly preferred the comforts 
of home and the golden opinions of their own neighbors. 

Two men lived in Pennsylvania a little more than twenty 
years ago who came partly within this category. They were, 
indeed, known far beyond their vicinity ; but as they did not 
seek for notoriety, they are not as well remembered as if they 
had been aspirants for Congressional honors. I refer to Robert 
T. Conrad, of Philadelphia, and George Washington Barton, of 
Lancaster, Pennsylvania. They differed in almost every thing. 
Conrad, in his prime, was a model of manly beauty. His au- 
burn hair, his delicate complexion, his musical voice, made a 
strong contrast with the tall, somewhat ungainly figure, swarthy 
skin, black hair, and discordant tones of Barton. Conrad was 
a Whig, Barton was a Democrat ; and though frequently in con- 
flict, they were, the best part of their lives, devoted friends. I 
knew them and loved them both, and as I never shared in their 
temporary differences, I was always a sort of peacemaker be- 
tween them. Their very incongruities seemed to attract them 
to each other. Barton and myself were born in the same town, 
and for many years his star shone unrivaled as a consummate 
orator. Conrad came along from Philadelphia as a lecturer and 
Whig speaker. He was as much the idol of his party as Barton 
was of ours. They seemed to "take to" each other from the 
first, and when Barton moved to Philadelphia and was associ- 
ated with Conrad in the local judiciary, they became almost 
constant companions. They were born in the same year, 1810, 
and died all too early, for their gifts were precious indeed, and 
deserved to be enjoyed for a long time alike by themselves and 
their country. Conrad lived until 1858, when he was forty-eight 
years old; and Barton is supposed to have been drowned in 



30 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the Bay of San Francisco, on the 25th of January, 1851, when 
he was only forty-one. Yet, short as their experiences were, 
they are remembered by thousands as among the most brilHant 
in the records of human genius. 

As my sketches are not biographies in any sense, but rather 
glances at public men, I will not, therefore, follow these experi- 
ences in detail, but confine myself to a few instances of marked 
individuality, more to show how much real merit is found out- 
side of the National Councils than to do justice to extraordinary 
talents. That is a duty I should conceive it a special honor to 
discharge if I had at once the material and the ability. 

Barton was an orator I have never heard surpassed in either 
House of Congress, and I may safely say this, as I never heard 
Henry Clay. He lived, unhappily, in the days when short- 
hand reporting was in its infancy. His utterance was so rapid, 
his retorts so quick, his humor so eccentric, that it would have 
required a rare adept to follow him. 

He was the favorite of every social circle — was sought after 
for his wit, his scholarship, and his memory. Mr. Buchanan 
delighted to have him at his frequent dinner-parties, and to in- 
troduce him to his distinguished guests as a prodigy. He read 
much and recollected every thing, and thus acquired a style all 
his own. His declamation was peculiar to himself, but his En- 
glish was exact and pure. Rich and figurative to a degree, it 
was always classic and correct. Some of his similes and out- 
bursts, if reported at the time, would survive like the best of 
Curran, Phillips, or Webster. He resembled Rufus Choate in 
astonishing rapidity of speech and in splendor of diction. How 
often I have regretted that his memorable passages were not 
preserved. The courts of Pennsylvania and the Democratic 
conventions resounded with his unparalleled eloquence, and 
when he reached San Francisco he leaped into a practice that 
promised to lead all others. His last speech in that city is still 
spoken of as one never equaled and never forgotten. I will 



ROBERT T. CONRAD. 3 1 

not attempt to give an idea of one of the many I recollect, for 
fear of doing injustice to his very great talents. His respected 
widow, living in Philadelphia, has some of his MSS. in her pos- 
session, and will, I hope, soon present a memoir of her gifted 
husband. 

Conrad was more fortunate. He printed much that he spoke 
and wrote. He was the editor of the Philadelphia North Amcr- 
ican for a time, while I was editor of the Philadelphia Pennsyl- 
vaftiafi, and we had many exciting controversies. The Whigs 
were sure that he had the best of me during the Mexican war, 
and the Democrats were as sure I had the best of him : but 
neither side knew that more than once the severest things we 
said of each other were written when we were dining together 
at the same table, and in the midst of mutual discussion and 
good nature. There were not many days of that heated and 
angry period that we did not meet as bosom friends ; and 
when his last remains were borne to their repose, I followed 
among those who mourned the loss of one of the richest intel- 
lects and warmest hearts in the ranks of men. Few did more 
varied labor in life. He was a splendid journalist, orator, and 
dramatist, and alternated from one practical post to the other; 
was a good judge, a brave mayor of Philadelphia, and a vigor- 
ous railroad president. He lives in some of the finest lyrics of 
the language, and in his great play of "Jack Cade," which holds 
the stage with tenacious popularity. Had he figured in Con- 
gress he would be classed among the Wirts, the Prentisses, the 
Benjamins, and the Prestons, masters, as they were, of the 
school of graceful eloquence, precisely as Barton would have 
figured among the original Randolphs, the sarcastic McDuffies, 
the imperious Marshalls, and the fiery Poindexters. 

[February 19, 1871.] 



32 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



VII. 

^ The 3d of February, i860, was one of the coldest days I 
ever knew in Washington, and the night was especially severe. 
The effort to elect a Speaker of the House of Representatives 
of the United States, though not so long as that of 1855-56, 
when General Banks was chosen, was equally exciting ; and 
when ex-Governor William Pennington, of New Jersey, was de- 
clared presiding officer of that body on the ist, the next point 
of interest was the choice of a Clerk. It was a period of anx- 
ious solicitude to patriotic men. The possibilities of secession 
began to multiply. The North was determined, the South de- 
fiant ; Douglas had been re-elected Senator from Illinois in 
spite of " my Lord Cardinal ;" Broderick had been killed in the 
previous September ; Reeder, who had been removed by Presi- 
dent Pierce from the governorship of Kansas, had been chosen 
delegate from that territory, and was on the floor contesting 
the seat of J. W. Whitfield, who had got the certificate. John 
Schwartz had defeated the Presidential favorite, J. Glancy Jones, 
in Berks County; Hickman had been returned by an enor- 
mously increased majority ; Haskin, of the Yonkers district, 
New York, had triumphed in his open record of open hostility 
to the Administration. Instead of getting at least fifty Demo- 
crats in Congress from the three States of New Jersey, New 
York, and Pennsylvania, they got but two from the first, but 
five from the second, and but two from the third. John W. 
Geary and Robert J.Walker had followed the example of An- 
drew H. Reeder, and had given their experience as governors 
of Kansas in fearless scorn of the frauds of the slaveholder. 

On the cold Friday referred to, February 3, i860, 1 was elect- 
ed Clerk of the House, by a single vote, over all others. It 
was the last drop in the bitter bowl of Democratic disappoint- 
ment, and it created an overflow of anger on the one side and 



"mazeppa" quotation. 33 

of satisfaction on the other. The event was naturally most 
distasteful to President Buchanan, crowning as it did a long 
and gloomy procession of disasters. On the evening of that 
Friday a large number of my personal friends met at Mr. John 
F. Coyle's, whose guest I was, on Missouri Avenue, to celebrate 
the event. Among these were many Southerners, and some 
who had voted against me only a few hours before. As I count 
over their names, I find that not a few have since been entered 
on the books of death. Schwartz, Burlingame, Pennington, 
Eliot, Stevens, have passed away. They were all present. The 
usual speeches common to such occasions were fired off; the 
old songs were sung — "John Brown" had not yet become popu- 
lar — the old jokes repeated. When my time came, I spoke 
some grateful words to the large crowd in the streets and the 
hilarious company in the rooms. It was fair poetical justice to 
remind the Administration of their persecution of the men who 
had resisted Lecompton, and of the vindication of these men 
by the people in the elections ; and as I stood out on the bal- 
cony I thought of the famous lines of Lord Byron in " Mazeppa :" 

"They little thought, that day of pain, 

When launched, as on the lightning's flash, 

They bade me to destruction dash, 
That one day I should come again, 

With twice five thousand horse, to thank 
The Count for his uncourteous ride. 

They played me then a bitter prank, 
When, with the wild horse for my guide, 

They bound me to his foaming flank. 

At length I played them one as frank, 
For time at last sets all things even ; 

And if we do but watch the hour, 

There never yet was human power 
Whicli could evade, if unforgiven, 

The patient watch and vigil long 

Of him who treasures up a wrong." 

But, like many an unfortunate in a similar situation, the whole 

B 2 



34 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Stanza escaped my memory, and I could only refer to it. James 
S. Jackson, of Kentucky, one of the bravest and best men I 
ever knew, stood at my side, and I asked him, sotto voce, to help 
me out. " Remember it yourself, you infernal Black Republi- 
can," was his quick reply, and I finished my remarks as best I 
could. Jackson was elected to Congress from his State as a 
Union man in 1861, and before the expiration of his term raised 
a regiment of Kentucky volunteers, and was killed in the battle 
of Perryville in 1862. Mr. Lincoln had just made him a briga- 
dier-general. He died too soon. Nature had been prodigal 
of her gifts to Jackson. To a face of singular, almost feminine 
beauty, was added the graceful form of an athlete and the 
manners of a Chesterfield. He took the right side in a commu- 
nity tainted with wrong views. It would have been far easier 
for him to have followed his intimate friends Breckinridge, 
Hawkins, and Preston into the Confederate service, and it was 
a hard struggle to differ with them, but he did it bravely, pre- 
serving their love in life, and calling out their manly sorrow 
over his gallant death. 

At the risk of talking a little more about myself than I care 
to do, I venture to reproduce the following from the speech 
of Hon. John B. Haskin, of New York, on that memorable 
evening : 

" A short time ago the New York Herald had, at the instiga- 
tion of Mr. Buchanan, as he knew, revived the Forrest letter, 
and had suggested that it be read from the Clerk's desk when 
Forney was nominated. Singularly enough, this had not been 
done, but, expecting that it would be, Colonel Forney had ad- 
dressed him a letter in relation to this famous Forrest letter, so 
much misconstrued. He would have read this letter in the 
House, but there was no necessity for it. He would now read 
it, however, as he knew those present would like to hear it. 
The following is the letter : 



THE FORREST LETTER. 35 

"'Washington, Feb. i, i860. 

"'My Dear Sir, — I need not repeat to you that my name has been as- 
sociated with the position of Clerk of the House, rather through the par- 
tiality of kind friends like yourself than because of any efforts of my own 
to become a candidate. I have importuned no single Representative for 
his vote. In the present condition of politics I have preferred to let events 
take their course, so far as I am concerned, maintaining the position I have 
held for the last two years of uncompromising hostility to the proscriptive 
and shameless policy of the present Administration of the General Govern- 
ment, and of hearty co-operation with all men who look to the overthrow 
of that Administration, its advocates and its indorsers. I have been in- 
formed, however, that, if my name should be presented to the House, an issue 
is to be made on account of a letter which I wrote nearly ten years ago, in 
connection with the case of Mr. Edwin Forrest. I had hoped that no one 
would be found willing to make this act of devotion to a cherished, and, as 
I believed, deeply injured friend, the pretext of an assault upon my reputa- 
tion. If in writing this letter I committed an error, I only became conscious 
of it when I saw how it could be misconstrued ; and, if I needed any assur- 
ances that this error had been overlooked, I had it in my re-election to the 
Clerkship of the House in 1853, in the unanimous indorsement of my con- 
duct by members of all parties of that body after I had presided over the 
deliberations of the House in the stormy struggle of 1855 and 1856, in my 
nomination, by the Democrats of the Pennsylvania Legislature, as their can- 
didate for United States Senator in 1857, and in the repeated voluntary ten- 
ders of distinguished official position by the present President of the United 
States, who has not permitted the recollection of my many years of cham- 
pionship of his aspirations to outweigh the fact that I could not conscien- 
tiously follow him in his abandonment and violation of the pledges and 
principles upon which alone he was chosen Chief Magistrate. I will not 
imitate the example set by his personal organ, the New York Herald, in 
making the revelation of a private letter a matter of public discussion. If 1 
could sink so low, I might find additional evidence of the fact, over his own 
name, that my connection with the Forrest case never deprived me of a 
particle of his confidence and affection, which up to a certain period he so 
freely and so flatteringly bestowed upon me. 

"'You can make any use of this note you see proper. Should the House 
elect me Clerk, I will accept the office and discharge the duties in the spirit 
in which it is conferred. Should the result be otherwise, my position will 
remain unchanged. I have tried the experiment of conducting an inde- 
pendent journal against all the office-holding power of the Federal Govern- 



36 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

ment, and I will not surrender my relation to that enterprise whether I gain 
or lose the position with which my name has been once more associated. 
" ' Yours, very truly, J. W. Forney. 

" * Hon. John B. Haskin.' " 

A curious sequel to this same evening happened while I was 
in London in May of 1867. I was invited to a club of young 
Englishmen who had been the pronounced friends of our Union 
during the war. Mr. Benjamin Moran, the accomplished Secre- 
tary of the American Legation, kindly accompanied me, and 
introduced me to most of those present. One gentleman was 
especially cordial, Lord Frederick Cavendish, second son of the 
Duke of Devonshire. I found him an advanced Liberal, and 
very pleasant and intelligent. As we sat smoking together on 
the sofa, he turned to me and said : " By-the-way, I heard you 
make a very fiery speech on a very cold night in Washington, 
in the early winter of i860. It was from the window or balcony 
of a house on Missouri Avenue." I looked at him with surprise, 
when he laughingly said : " I lived in Washington for some time 
as a member of the British embassy, and felt an interest in the 
Democratic dissensions. When you were elected Clerk, myself 
and two friends took a carriage, and, expecting a speech, rode 
to your lodgings, and we were well rewarded even for the cold 
we endured among the outside audience." It was a pleasant 
and a curious reminiscence, and as such I record it in these 
hasty sketches. 

[February 26, 1870.] 



VIIL 

The public man with a reputation for wit is apt to become 
responsible for all the best jokes, old and new. Many a Joe 
Miller was and is still credited to Thaddeus Stevens and Abra- 



THADDEUS STEVENS. 37 

ham Lincoln. Things they never said, now that both are gone, 
are boldly laid upon their memories. But no two men, perhaps, 
so entirely different in character, ever threw off more sponta- 
neous jokes. Mr. Stevens rarely told a story. He was strong 
in repartee, in retort, in quiet interrogatory. He must have 
been terrible at the cross-examination of a witness. There is 
nothing finer, as I think, in the annals of humor than his quaint 
questions to David Reese and John Chauncey, the two officers 
of the House who in his last days used to carry him in a large 
arm-chair from his lodgings across the public grounds up the 
broad stairs of the noble Capitol — " Who will be so good to me 
and take me up in their strong arms when you two mighty men 
are gone ?" Here was not only uncommon wit, but a sense of 
intellectual immortality. A consciousness of superiority of an- 
other sort was his answer to John Hickman, who called as 
Stevens laid on his bed, when he felt the grip of the grim mes- 
senger fastening on him. Hickman told the old man he was 
looking well. " Ah, John !" was his quick reply, " it is not my 
appearance, but my disappearance, that troubles me." A mem- 
ber of the House who was known for his uncertain course on 
all questions, and who often confessed that he never fully in- 
vestigated a mooted point without finding himself a neutral, 
asked for leave of absence. " Mr. Speaker," said Stevens, " I 
do not rise to object, but to suggest that the honorable member 
need not ask this favor, for he can easily pair off with himself" 
He was charitable, but never ostentatiously so. " Oh, sir 1" 
said a beggar woman to him one cold morning as he was limp- 
ing to the House, "Oh, sir! I have just lost all the money I 
had in the world." "And how much was that?" "Oh, sir! 
it was seventy-five cents." "You don't say so," was the old 
man's answer, as he put a five-dollar bill into her hands ; " and 
how wonderful it is that I should have just found what you had 
lost !" 

Shortly after I was elected Clerk of the House, in i860, a 



38 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

lady friend, since deceased, called my attention to the fact that 
the wife of one of her best servants, Sam, was about to be sent 
away from him to Georgia, and that unless over eight hundred 
dollars could be raised for her in forty-eight hours, her master, a 
man living at Georgetown, D. C, would be sure to sell her to 
strangers. The case was a terrible one. Sam was a fine fellow, 
and his distress was grievous. I sat down and wrote out the 
facts, headed the subscription, and in a few hours raised the 
money, paying over three hundred dollars myself. The papers 
were made out to me, and I set the w^oman free. "Well," 
said Mr. Stevens, as he paid his fifty dollars, " this is the first 
time I ever heard of a Democrat buying a negro and then 
giving her her liberty !" 

He affected much indignation when President Lincoln con- 
signed Roger A.Pryor to me as a sort of prisoner-guest in 1865, 
and regularly every morning would greet me with the grim re- 
mark : " How is your Democratic friend. General Pryor ? I 
hope you are both well." I was a little annoyed by his sar- 
casm, and when an appeal was made to me by an old citizen 
to assist in pardoning another Confederate, I referred him to 
Mr. Stevens. He happened to know the Great Commoner, 
and went over to him with my message. Judge of my surprise 
when he returned with the proposition that whatever I wrote 
he [Stevens] would sign. I dictated the strongest appeal to 
the President, and Mr. Stevens put his name to it. Of course, 
I indorsed the petition ; but I did not fail to remind my neigh- 
bor that very day of his inconsistency. " Oh ! you need not be 
riled about it," was the retort ; " I saw you were going heavily 
into the Pardon business, and thought I would take a hand in it 
myself." 

Mr. Lincoln was a humorist of another school. He delighted 
in parables and stories. His treasures of memory were in- 
exhaustible. He never failed for an illustration. He liked the 
short farce better than the five-act tragedy. He would shout 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 



39 



with laugh tei over a French, German, or negro anecdote, and 
he was always ready to match the best with a better. More 
than once, when I bore a message to him from the Senate, he 
detained me with some amusing sketch of Western life. He 
seemed to have read the character, and to know the peculiarities 
of every leading man in Congress and the country, and would 
play off many an innocent joke upon them. I will not attempt 
to repeat what has been so often described. There was also a 
sacred confidence around many of those scenes which could 
not be violated without offense to many living good men ; and 
as I do not write to wound the feelings, I will not profane an 
illustrious memory by reviving what would only give unneces- 
sary pain. 

His two inaugurations were accompanied by apprehensions 
of his assassination, and the second was followed in a little 
more than a month by his murder. At the inauguration of 
March 4, 1861, 1 was present as Clerk of the House. At the 
inauguration of March 4, 1865, I was present as Secretary of 
the Senate. James Buchanan, as ex-President, heard the re- 
markable first message of the man who succeeded him, just as 
Andrew Johnson heard the still more remarkable inauguration 
of the man he succeeded. War followed the one, peace and 
assassination the other. The scene in the Senate of the United 
States on the 4th of March 1865, when Andrew Johnson was 
sworn in as Vice-President, has too often been painted to be 
set out into daylight again. Let it rest. I refer to it now 
only to relate one incident. After we reached the eastern and 
middle portion of the Capitol, where Mr. Lincoln took the oath, 
Johnson was under a state of great excitement, and was in my 
immediate charge. I was confident, however, that he would be 
subdued before the President finished his inaugural. To the 
surprise of every body however, except, perhaps, the Cabinet, 
Mr. Lincoln did not consume five minutes in repeating it. As 
soon as the people outside saw that he was done, loud cries 



40 



ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



were raised for Johnson, upon which we hastily retreated to the 
Senate chamber, and closed the unhappy and inauspicious day. 
On the 14th of the succeeding month of April, the murder 
planned four years before, and baffled by superior foresight, was 
executed, and Abraham Lincoln was dying from the pistol-shot 
of Booth. 

[March 5, 1871.] 



IX. 

Circumstance often controls men as inexorably as con- 
science. Many a Confederate would have been a Radical if 
he had lived in the North, just as many a Radical would have 
been a Confederate if he had lived in the South. Howell Cobb 
was one of the best types of this idea. There was an under- 
current of anti-slavery, or rather a profound devotion to the 
Union, in his nature. Take his campaign against the Nullifiers 
of the South in 1850, when he ran as an independent candi- 
date for governor of Georgia, and was elected over Charles J. 
McDonald, the leader of the Calhounites. At the close of his 
first eight years in Congress, and at the end of his Speakership 
of the House, I sat with him in his official room at the Capitol, 
and heard his eloquent declaration that he would make war 
upon these men, cost him what it might. The contest was ex- 
citing to a degree. Personal vituperation and personal threats 
were as common against Cobb as they were twenty years after 
against Bullock, the Republican governor of Georgia. In 1855 
Governor Cobb was again sent to Congress, and there took 
early and patriotic ground against the extremists. He was so 
anxious to make Mr. Buchanan President, that in 1856, on my 
invitation, he came into Pennsylvania, and traversed Chester 
County with John Hickman, pledging the Democracy to justice 



JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 4 1 

to the people of Kansas. His argument was exceedingly ef- 
fective, and thousands voted for the "favorite son" because they 
believed the impassioned Georgian. 

Yet as the controversy deepened Governor Cobb yielded 
to the exactions of his section, and when the rebellion burst 
upon us he was one of the foremost and most resolute of the 
secession chiefs. He died in New York in 1869, ^^ his 54th 
year, greatly mourned in Georgia, where he leaves large family 
connections. Before we revive the censure of his conduct as 
James Buchanan's Secretary of the Treasury, and as one of the 
members of the government of Jefferson Davis, let us " put our- 
selves in his place." 

Another illustration of the force of circumstances is that of 
John Cabell Breckinridge, of Kentucky. I have always believed 
that he espoused the Confederacy, if not reluctantly, at least in 
the conviction that it would forever end his political career. 
He inherited hostility to slavery. When he came to Washing- 
ton in 185 1 as a Representative from the old Henry Clay Lex- 
ington district, in Kentucky, he was in no sense an extremist. 
At that early day, when he had just attained his 30th year, and 
I was in my 34th, we conferred freely and frequently on the 
future of our country. He used to relate how Sam Houston, 
for whom he had great respect, would expatiate upon the dan- 
gers and evils of slavery ; and it was not difficult to trace the 
operation of the same idea in his own mind. But he was too 
interesting a character to be neglected by the able ultras of the 
South. They saw in his winning manners, attractive appear- 
ance, and rare talent for public affairs, exactly the elements 
they needed in their concealed designs against the country. If 
they were successful in arousing his ambition and finally mak- 
ing him one of themselves, we must not forget that few men 
similarly placed would have been proof against such blandish- 
ments. Let this be said of him. He was never prominent in 
the small persecutions of the Democrats who refused to indorse 



42 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



^ 



i^ 



the course of the Administration of which he was Vice-Presi- 
dent. No doubt that lost him the confidence of the President 
and his immediate followers. 

He was made a Senator in Congress from Kentucky wh^n 
the Buchanan regime expired, taking his seat on the very day 
that his venerable chief retired to Wheatland ; and he remained 
a Senator in Congress till the close of the called session, which 
opened on the i4t^ of July, and closed on the 6th of August, 
1 86 1. He was the leader of the Democracy in that exciting 
month, and though he gave no sign of his intention to join the 
rebel army, nobody was surprised when he was reported at 
Richmond, Virginia. 

Perhaps the most dramatic scene that ever took place in the 
Senate Chamber — old or new — was that between Breckinridge 
and Colonel E. D. Baker, of Oregon, on the ist of August, i86i, 
five days before the adjournment si7ie die, in the darkest period 
of the war, when the rebellion was most defiant and hopeful. 
The last week of that July was full of excitement in Congress 
and the country, and I know how much labor and patience it 
required to keep alive the hopes of our people. The course of 
Powell and Breckinridge, of Kentucky, and Bright, of Indiana, 
in opposing the Government, had nearly obliterated party feel- 
ing in the Senate. McDougall, of California, Rice, of Minne- 
sota, Thompson, of New Jersey, all Democrats, had declared for 
force to crush the rebellion. These men were especially em- 
phatic, though closely endeared to Breckinridge. Thompson, 
of New Jersey, spoke loud and firm from his seat — " I shall vote 
for the bill as a war measure — I am in favor of carrying on the 
war to crush out the rebellion." The same day McDougall 
questioned the right of Powell, of Kentucky, to his seat in the 
Senate. Andrew Johnson reiterated his determination to stand 
by the flag to the last. Carlile, of West Virginia, would vote 
for force to put down the rebel foe. 

It was in the midst of this feeling that Breckinridge rose to 



SENATOR E. D. BAKER. 



43 



make his last formal indictment against the Government. 
Never shall I forget the scene. Baker was a Senator and a 
soldier. He alternated between his seat in the Capitol and his 
tent in the field. He came in at the eastern door (while Breck- 
inridge was speaking) in his blue coat and fatigue cap, riding- 
whip in hand. He paused and listened to the " polished trea- 
son," as he afterward called it, of the Senator from Kentucky, 
and, when he sat down, he replied with a fervor never to be 
forgotten. One or two of his passages deserve to be repeated : 
" To talk to us about stopping is idle ; we will never stop. 
Will the Senator yield to rebellion ? Will he shrink from arm- 
ed insurrection.? Will his State justify it.? Will its better pub- 
lic opinion allow it ? Shall we send a flag of truce ? What 
would he have .? Or would he conduct this war so feebly that 
the whole world would smile at us in derision .? What would he 
have ? These speeches of his, sown broadcast over the land — 
what clear, distinct meaning have they .? Are they not intended 
for disorganization in our very midst ? Are they not intended 
to dull our weapons? Are they not intended to destroy our 
zeal ? Are they not intended to animate our enemies ? Sir, 
are they not words of brilliant, polished treason, even in the 
very Capitol of the Confederacy .?" [Manifestations of applause 
in the galleries.] 

The presiding ofHcer (Mr. Anthony in the chair).—" Order !" 
Mr. Baker. " What would have been thought if, in another 
Capitol, in another Republic, in a yet more martial age, a Sen- 
ator as grave, not more eloquent or dignified than the Senator 
from Kentucky, yet with the Roman purple flowing over his 
shoulders, had risen in his place, surrounded by all the illus- 
trations of Roman glory, and declared that advancing Hannibal 
was just, and that Carthage ought to be dealt with in terms of 
peace ? What would have been thought if, after the battle of 
Cannae, a Senator there had risen in his place and denounced 
every levy of the Roman people, every expenditure of its treas- 



44 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

ure, and every appeal to the old recollections and the old glo- 
ries ? Sir, a Senator, himself learned far more than myself hi 
such lore [Mr. Fessenden], tells me in a voice that I am glad 
is audible, that he would have been hurled from the Tarpeian 
Rock. It is a grand commentary upon the American Consti- 
tution that we permit these words to be uttered. I ask the Sen- 
ator to recollect, too, what, save to send aid and comfort to the 
enemy, do these predictions amount to ? Every word thus ut- 
tered falls as a note of inspiration upon every Confederate ear. 
Every sound thus uttered is a word (and, falling from his lips, 
a mighty word) of kindling and triumph to a foe that deter- 
mines to advance. For me, I have no such word as a Senator 
to utter. For me, amid temporary defeat, disaster, disgrace, it 
seems that my duty calls me to utter another word, and that 
word is bold, sudden, forward, determined war, according to 
the laws of war, by armies, by military commanders, clothed 
with full power, advancing with all the past glories of the Re- 
public urging them on to conquest." 

Breckinridge had made the following prediction : 
" ' War is separation,' is the language of an eminent gentle- 
man now no more ; it is disunion, eternal and final disunion. 
We have separation now ; it is only made worse by war, and 
an utter extinction of all those sentiments of common interest 
and feeling which might lead to a political reunion founded 
upon consent and upon a conviction of its advantages. Let 
the war go on, however, and soon, in addition to the moans of 
widows and orphans all over this land, you will hear the cry 
of distress from those who want food and the comforts of life. 
The people will be unable to pay the grinding taxes which a 
fanatical spirit will attempt to impose upon them. Nay more, 
sir ; you will see further separation. I hope it is not ' the sun- 
set of life gives me mystical lore,' but in my mind's eye I 
plainly see 'coming events cast their shadows before.' The 
Pacific slope now, doubtless, is devoted to the union of States. 



SENATOR E. D. BAKER. 4^ 

Let this war go on till they find the burdens of taxation greater 
than the burdens of a separate condition, and they will assent 
to it. Let the war go on until they see the beautiful features 
of the old Confederacy beaten out of shape and comeliness by 
the brutalizing hand of war, and they will turn aside in disgust 
from the sickening spectacle, and become a separate nation. 
Fight twelve months longer, and the already opening differen- 
ces that you see between New England and the great North- 
west will develop themselves. You have two confederacies 
now. Fight twelve months, and you will have three ; twelve 
months longer, and you will have four." 

Baker, in reply, made the following prediction, which he did 
not live to see fulfilled — having died in battle at Ball's Bluff, 
Va., on the 21st of October, 1 861 — less than three months 
after : 

" I tell the Senator that his predictions — sometimes for the 
South, sometimes for the Middle States, sometimes for the 
Northeast, and then wandering away in airy visions out to the 
far Pacific, about the dread of our people as to the loss of blood 
and treasure, provoking them to disloyalty— are false in senti- 
ment, false in fact, and false in loyalty. The Senator from 
Kentucky is mistaken in them all. Five hundred million dol- 
lars! What then? Great Britain gave more than two thou- 
sand millions in the great battle for constitutional liberty which 
she led at one time, almost single-handed, against the world. 
Five hundred thousand men ! What then .? We have them ; 
they are ours ; they are children of the country ; they belong to' 
the whole country ; they are our sons— our kinsmen, and there 
are many of us who will give them all up before we will abate 
one word of our just demand, or will retreat one inch from the 
line which divides right from wrong. 

" Sir, it is not a question of men or of money in that sense. 
All the money, all the men, are, in our judgment, well bestowed 
in such a cause. When we give them we know their value. 



46 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Knowing their value well, we give them with the more pride 
and the more joy. Sir, how can we retreat ? Sir, how can we 
make peace ? Who shall treat ? What commissioners ? Who 
would go ? Upon what terms ? Where is to be your boundary- 
line ? Where the end of principles we shall have to give up ? 
What will become of constitutional government ? What will 
become of public liberty ? What of the past glories ? What 
of future hopes ? Shall we sink into the insignificance of the 
grave — a degraded, defeated, emasculated people, frightened 
by the results of one battle, and scared by the visions raised 
by the imagination of the Senator from Kentucky upon this 
floor ? No, sir ! a thousand times, no, sir ! We will rally — if, 
indeed, our words be necessary — we will rally the people, the 
loyal people of the whole country. They will pour forth their 
treasure, their money, their men, without stint, without measure. 
The most peaceable man in this body may stamp his foot upon 
this Senate-chamber floor, as of old a warrior and a Senator 
did, and from that single tramp there will spring forth armed 
legions. Shall one battle determine the fate of empire or a 
dozen ? The loss of one thousand men or twenty thousand, of 
one hundred million dollars or five hundred million ? In a 
year, in ten years at most, of peaceful progress we can restore 
them all. There will be some graves reeking with blood, wa- 
tered by the tears of affection. There will be some privation ; 
there will be some loss of luxury ; there will be somewhat more 
need for labor to procure the necessaries of life. When that 
is said, all is said. If we have the country, the whole country, 
the Union, the Constitution, free government — with these there 
will return all the blessings of well-ordered civilization ; the 
path of the country will be a career of greatness and of glory 
such as, in the olden time, our fathers saw in the dim vision 
of years yet to come, and such as would have been ours now, 
to-day, if it had not been for the treason for which the Sen- 
ator too often seeks to apologize." 



JOHN C. BRECKINRIDGE. 47 

An amusing episode followed the debate. Breckinridge 
thought it was Sumner who answered Baker's interrogatory, 
" What would have been done with a Roman Senator guilty of 
such treason ?" by exclaiming that " He would have been hurled 
from the Tarpeian Rock." And he denounced the Massachu- 
setts Senator in severe and angry Saxon. When Breckinridge 
discovered it was Fessenden and not Sumner who had given 
this response, he did not complain of the first nor apologize to 
the second. The Senator from Massachusetts has a sort of 
vicarious office to this day, and suffers a great deal from the 
sins of others. 

The contrast between the prophets, living and dead, is useful, 
and does not seem to have been lost upon the survivor, Mr. 
Breckinridge, if we may judge by his deportment since the 
close of the war, and by the following words spoken by him at 
Louisville, Kentucky, on the 13th of October last, at a meeting 
called to do honor to the memory of Robert E. Lee, the Con- 
federate military leader. It was a meeting of men of all parties, 
and he said : " If the spirit which animates the assembly before 
me to-night shall become general and extend over the whole 
country, then indeed may we say that the wounds of the late 
war are truly healed. We ask only for him what we concede 
to the manly qualities of others. Among the more eminent of 
the Federal generals who fell during the war, or have since 
died, may be mentioned Thomas and McPherson. What Con- 
federate would refuse to raise his cap as their funeral train 
passed by, or grudge to drop a flower upon their soldier-graves ?" 

And doubtless if he had thought of it he would have included 
in the list of " Federal soldiers " the gallant Baker of Oregon, 
whose prediction of the collapse of the rebellion he has lived 
to realize, and, I hope, not to regret. 

[March 12, 1871.] 



48 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



John Quincy Adams was a Representative in Congress from 
1 83 1 — three years after he left the Presidency — to the 23d of 
February, 1848, when he fell from his seat in the House, and 
died literally in harness. The lives of the Adamses have been 
unusually busy and brilliant. John, the second President, was 
a patriot of the impulsive school, honest and self-willed. John 
Quincy, his son, was in some respects a larger and a riper mind; 
Charles Francis, his living grandson, is a more cautious and con- 
servative personage, while his great-grandsons are spoken of as 
men of learning and culture. This family is one of the few evi- 
dences of the transmission of genius in the same blood. There 
is really no representative left of Washington, Jefferson, Clay, 
Webster, Calhoun, or Jackson. It seems to have been ordain- 
ed that each was to be the last of his race, and that none should 
be left to eclipse his fame. The first time I ever saw John 
Quincy Adams was also the first time I ever saw Stephen A. 
Douglas. This was in May of 1846, while Polk was President, 
and James Buchanan Secretary of State. The annexation of 
Texas was the reigning issue. Parties were divided upon it, 
and John Quincy Adams led the opposition. He was in his 
seventy-ninth year. Douglas was in his thirty-third. The con- 
trast was marked between the feeble and bald-headed states- 
man and the boyish face and figure of the black-eyed and 
black-haired partisan. The one was closing out his eventful 
career— the other was beginning his, not so varied, but crowded 
with almost as many trials. As I sat in the gallery that sweet 
May morning, and looked down upon the men who led and 
dominated the deliberations, I little thought of the terrible fut- 
ure before us, and that I should outlive many who were then 
in the prime of a vigorous manhood. Young as I was, I v/as ed- 
itor enough to know the leaders, either personally or by name. 



STATESMEN OF FORTY-SIX. 49 

There were Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, Adams and Winthrop, 
of Massachusetts, Collamer and Foot, of Vermont (both after- 
ward in the Senate and since dead), Preston King, of New 
York (afterward a Senator and since dead), Brodhead, Charles 
J. Ingersoll, Joseph R. Ingersoll, Lewis C. Levin, and David 
Wilmot, of Pennsylvania, the first and last afterward in the 
Senate, and the whole number now in their graves ; Thomas 
H. Bayley and George C. Dromgoole, of Virginia, both since 
dead. There also were McKay, of North Carolina, Linn Boyd, 
of Kentucky, Cave Johnson, of Tennessee, S. F. Vinton and 
Joshua Giddings, of Ohio, all gathered to their fathers. And 
there also were many yet living, like Andrew Johnson, of Ten- 
nessee, Stevens and Toombs, of Georgia — these two last among 
the most active of the moderate men of that period ; Whigs as 
earnest as young Delano and Schenck, of Ohio, who were in 
the same House, one of them now General Grant's Secretary of 
the Interior, and the other his Minister to England. 

In this same Congress, a Representative from Illinois, was 
E. D. Baker, afterward a Senator from Oregon, whose noble re- 
ply to Breckinridge, some fifteen years later, I quoted from in 
my last number. Born in England, and "brought to this coun- 
try when a child, and left an orphan in Philadelphia," this boy 
of genius, this handsome, whole-hearted man, this statesman in 
the Senate and hero in the field, had no idea, at that early day, 
when he fought Douglas in the House, that they two would 
harmonize in love of country at last, and that they would go to 
meet their father-God in the same year, and only a few months 
apart. How bitter these Whigs and Democrats were ! Hov/ 
angry they got themselves, and how angry they made their re- 
spective friends ! And yet at the end of less than a generation 
we find Douglas and Baker, intense party foes in the year 1846, 
lying down together almost in the same grave, at nearly the 
same time, martyrs alike to the same holy cause, in the year 
186 1. They were strangely alike in many things. They were 

C 



50 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

familiar to a degree. Their tastes were similar. They loved 
their friends without hating their foes. Neither believed in the 
philosophy of revenge. They thought they did sometimes in 
their impulses, but when the passion passed oif they forgave 
like gods. Mean men only live in the darkness of malice. It 
is the great soul alone that outlives in history and memory the 
mean soul, unless the latter is so infamous as to stand as 
a beacon and a warning. Of this school were Baker and 
Douglas. But to my story. 

. I sat in the gallery of the old House, now the glorious recep- 
tacle which I hope decent courage in our public men will secure 
from the profanation of being a sepulchre for every dead-beat 
in the way of art, where Stephen A. Douglas made his magnifi- 
cent speech in favor of the annexation of Texas in reply to 
ex-President Adams. I shall never forget that sweet and odor- 
ous 13th of May, 1846. Nowhere, as it seems to me, is there 
an atmosphere like Washington in May and June. Nature 
seems to revel in the supreme luxury of her own charms. That 
spot, without snow in winter, prolonging its equal reign far into 
the summer, and resuming its neutral sway early in September, 
seems to have been chosen as the "golden mean" alike of pol- 
itics and climate. I had come from my little country-city to 
hear and to see, and I was gratified. 

In view of the fact that Texas is now the fertile outpost of 
an athletic civilization, and of the other fact that if we had not 
conquered her from Mexico, she would be to-day a sort of mid- 
dle ground, compounded of guerillas and knights of the free 
lance, the friends of annexation may claim a sort of poetical 
vindication. Mexico is still a most vexatious problem. What 
would Texas be if left to the mercy of Mexico, or to the manip- 
ulations of foreign powers? In this light the annexation of 
1846, consummated by the treaty of Guadaloupe- Hidalgo in 
1848, was a measure of consummate foresight. 

I shall never forget how eagerly John Quincy Adams listened 



ADAMS AND DOUGLAS. 5 1 

to the young member from Illinois, Stephen A. Douglas, as he 
was speaking on the 13th of May, 1846. Mr. Delano, of Ohio, 
now Secretary of the Interior, had made a decided argument 
against annexation, which gave great satisfaction to the vener- 
able ex-President. 

Mr. Douglas said, with the courtesy which distinguished him, 
looking at Mr. Adams : " I perceive the venerable gentleman 
from Massachusetts, before me now, nods approval of the senti- 
ment." [The sentiment of Mr. Delano.] 

Mr. Adams. " Yes, sir. Mr. Chairman, I approve and indorse 
every word and syllable of it." 

Thus encouraged, the wily young Illinois orator proceeded 
in his well-considered speech. It will be recollected that the 
great point in issue in 1846, so far as Texas was concerned, was 
the boundary between Texas and Mexico. Mr. Delano, with 
masterly ability, had denied that the Rio del Norte was the 
western boundary, and Mr. Adams had accepted the version of 
Mr. Delano. I can never forget the following colloquy : 

Mr. Douglas. " Mr. Chairman, I believe I have now said all 
that I intended for the purpose of showing that the Rio del 
Norte was the western boundary of the republic of Texas. How 
far I have succeeded in establishing the position I leave to the 
House and the country to determine. If that was the bound- 
ary of the republic of Texas, it has, of course, become the bound- 
ary of the United States by virtue of the act of annexation and 
admission into the Union. I will not say that I have demon- 
strated the question as satisfactorily as the distinguished gen- 
tleman from Massachusetts did in 1819, but I will say that I 
think I am safe in adopting the sentiment which he then ex- 
pressed, that our title to the Rio del Norte is as clear as to the 
island of New Orleans." 

Mr. Adams. " I never said that our title was good to the Rio 
del Norte from its mouth to its source." 

Mr. Douglas. " I know nothing of the gentleman's mental 



52 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

reservations. If he means, by his denial, to place the whole 
emphasis on the qualification that he did not claim that river 
as the boundary 'fi-om its mouth to its source,' I shall not dis- 
pute with him on that point. But if he wishes to be understood 
as denying that he ever claimed the Rio del Norte, in general 
terms, as our boundary under the Louisiana treaty, I can fur- 
nish him an official document, over his own signature, which he 
will find very embarrassing and exceedingly difficult to explain. 
I allude to his famous dispatch as Secretary of State, in 1819, 
to Don Onis, the Spanish minister. I am not certain that I can 
prove his handwriting, for the copy I have in my possession I 
find printed in the American State Papers, published by the 
order of Congress. In that paper he not only claimed the Rio 
del Norte as our boundary, but he demonstrated the validity 
of the claim by a train of facts and arguments which rivet con- 
viction on every impartial mind, and deny refutation." 

Mr. Adams. " I wrote that dispatch as Secretary of State, 
and endeavored to make out the best case I could for my own 
country, as it was my duty. But I utterly deny that I claimed 
the Rio del Norte as our boundary in its full extent. I only 
claimed it a short distance up the river, and then diverged to 
the northward some distance from the stream." 

Mr. Douglas. '' Will the gentleman specify the point at which 
his line left the river ?" * 

Mr. Adams. " I never designated the point." 
Mr. Douglas. " Was it above Matamoras ?" 
Mr. Adams. " I never specified any particular place." 
The old man had evidently forgotten the dispatch he wrote 
as Secretary of State in 18 19 — twenty-seven years before — and 
the young man had had it recalled to his attention. It was a 
bombshell. It was a new thing to see John Quincy Adams 
retreating before anybody. He seemed to feel as if he had 
fallen into a trap. His solicitude to hear Douglas was perhaps 
a sort of explanation of his course. The House was divided 



CHANGES OF OPINION. 53 

between admiration for the new actor on the great stage of na- 
tional affairs and reverence for the retiring chief. I recollect 
my own feelings as I sat in the gallery and witnessed this con- 
flict. 

Douglas was a Vermonter ; Adams was a Massachusetts 
man. Perhaps the idea that controlled their common star was 
the New England idea, which has done so much and dared so 
much in human civilization and redemption. It is curious to 
note the influence of this idea upon all our future. It has never 
failed to vindicate itself John Adams proclaimed it, but he 
did not plant it. John Quincy Adams tenderly nourished it. 
If the grandson of the one, and the son of the other, and the 
sons of the last, choose to neglect it, the followers of Stephen 
A. Douglas will not allow it to die for want of culture and care. 

[February 19, 187 1.] 



XI. 

Nothing is more remarkable in history than the fact that 
States and statesmen often undergo entire revulsions of jDolitic- 
al sentiment and conviction. To doubt the sincerity of these 
changes is to question the justice of every sort of conversion. 
Slavery has been the most potent element ; but other causes 
have been effective. The free-trade speech of Daniel Webster 
in 1824, able as it was, was not a particle more conscientious 
than his protection argument in Philadelphia twenty-two years 
later. The leading Federalist in Lancaster County from 1814 
to 1827 was the same James Buchanan who, in a few years 
after, became the admitted Democratic chief of Pennsylvania. 
Henry Clay's early Democracy did not prevent him from be- 
coming the defiant enemy of that party after Andrew Jackson 
took command of it. Calhoun became a free-trader after hav- 



54 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

ing made some of the strongest arguments for protection, thus 
exactly changing places with Daniel Webster. When, however, 
slavery began to dominate the field, we had a succession of 
astonishing transformations. States wheeled out of one party 
into another with magical celerity. Democratic fortresses like 
Maine, New Hampshire, Illinois, Iowa, Pennsylvania, New 
York, and Ohio, which had stood by the Democracy in every 
trial, and had routed the Whigs in repeated campaigns, joined 
the Republican column, while veteran Democrats like Hamlin 
of Maine, Trumbull of Illinois, Wilmot of Pennsylvania, D. K. 
Cartter of Ohio, Preston King and Reuben E. Fenton, of New 
York, Morton of Indiana, ranged themselves on the same side, 
not as privates, but as general officers, each with an army at 
his back. There was little compensation for these losses. It 
is true the South consolidated to save the peculiar institution, 
but little was gained by the halting support of such formerly 
intense Whig States as Maryland and Kentucky. They could 
not so readily forget their devotion to Clay and their hatred of 
Jackson. The sectionalism born of slavery also gave rise to war, 
and then came some of the strangest of revolutions. Hundreds 
of thousands of Democrats became Republicans when they saw 
the treatment that Reeder and Douglas, and their compatriots, 
had received; but the oddest sight was to see hosts of "Old- 
line Whigs," who had been denouncing slavery all their lives, 
joining the Democrats ! Hon. James Brooks, of New York, 
and Hon. Josiah Randall, of Philadelphia, were the pioneers in 
this singular diversion ; and they were followed by quite a pro- 
cession of men of the same school when hostilities commenced. 
There is now hardly a considerable town in the United States 
in which some " Old-line Whig " is not among the Democratic 
leaders. Most notable of these are the grandsons of John 
Quincy Adams. The living junior of that name is an accepted 
authority, and one of his brothers is said to be among the best 
of the numerous writers for the New York Worlds whose edito- 



WILLIAM B. REED. 55 

rial columns are frequently enriched by contributions from the 
finished and fertile pen of William B. Reed, for a long time the 
most brilliant and effective of the antagonists of the Democratic 
party in Pennsylvania. Mr. Reed was an earnest advocate of 
Mr. Buchanan for the Presidency in 1856. He did much for 
his election. He was eminently loyal to his new friend ; and 
when he was sent forth on the Chinese mission, he was true to 
that friend, and entered heartily into the extreme views of those 
who sympathized with the rebellion. Let us not forget that his 
very intensity in that strife was only a copy of his intensity on 
the other side, and that his course in both experiences is per- 
haps the very best proof of his sincerity. As I read his articles 
in The World, so caustic and courteous, I have but one regret, 
and that is that they are not in logical accord with his old anti- 
slavery record. Nobody in Philadelphia who knows W. B. 
Reed, whatever his present feelings, will deny that if he had 
followed this record he would have been among the dictators 
of the Republican party. As I study men like Mr. Reed, and 
notice that Hon. Isaac E. Hiester, the Whig son of a Federal 
father, in the county of Lancaster, Pennsylvania — both having 
served that great district in the Congress of the United States, 
and both chosen by the anti-Democratic vote, and the son dy- 
ing a few weeks ago one of the captains of the Democracy — I 
feel that I have no right to question motives. Hiester Clymer, 
who ran for Governor against John W. Geary, of the same State, 
in 1866, is another instance. Perhaps the most thoughtful 
member of the Philadelphia bar was the late George M. Whar- 
ton, an " Old-line Whig," and yet his last hours were filled with 
sympathy with the Democratic party. 

It is difficult, and often disreputable, to divine the motives 
of men who change religions or politics. Yet it is interesting 
to know how they excuse themselves. Consistency is often a 
species of moral cowardice. Many shelter themselves under 
this shadow, and lie through a life-time, publicly indorsing an 



56 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

idea they hate in their hearts. The brave spirits are those who 
welcome the truth as they see it, and fight it out. The fool 
often lives and dies in his own errors. The wise man investi- 
gates and rejects them. As none are perfect in life, so all 
should aspire to be perfect in the Christian virtue of toleration. 

[March 26, 1871.] 



XII. 

Listening to Mr. Dougherty's brilliant lecture, at the Phila- 
delphia Academy of Music, on the evening of March 13, mem- 
ory carried me back many years. He was right when he said 
that the days of oratory were over, and that the men fittest for 
declamation generally prefer the plainest and most practical 
way of expressing their sentiments. I am disposed to think 
the change for the better, inasmuch as the most thoughtful men 
are not always the best speakers, and the best speakers are not 
always the most thoughtful men. A calm, conversational style 
necessitates logic or an attempt in that direction, and leaves 
reason a clearer, because less exciting, field to combat with 
error. High art seems to have given way to exact science. 
Words weigh little. Adjectives are accepted as confessions of 
weakness. Fact so rules the world that even the novelist can 
not be successful unless he weaves the very best likeness of it 
into his fictions. A great and wise man said to me lately, after 
reading one of Charles Reade's wonderful creations, "This 
book reminds me keenly of the singular adage, that many a 
romance is history without the proper names, just as many a 
history is romance with the proper names." 

How well I remember some of the orators of other days — 
the men of the generation succeeding Andrew Jackson ! The 
South always predominated in fascinating and plausible rhet- 



ORATORS OF THE SOUTH. 57 

oric. Winter Davis, of Maryland, was at once a logician and 
a declaimer. His sharp tenor voice, his incisive sentences and 
ready wit, his fine figure, were admirably re-enforced by acute 
reasoning powers and admirable legal training. A rare speci- 
men of the same qualities was Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisi- 
ana, now a practitioner in the various law-courts in London. 
His handsome Jewish face, his liquid tones, and easy enuncia- 
tion, contrasted well with his skill as a debater and his accuracy 
as a student. Pierre Soule, a Senator from the same State, was 
a different, yet as peculiar a type. His swarthy complexion, 
black, flashing eyes, and Frenchified dress and speech, made 
him one of the attractions of the Senate. He is now in his 
grave, after a strangely eventful and novel career. He was an 
artificial man — brilliant in repartee, yet subject to fits of mel- 
ancholy ; impetuous, yet reserved ; proud, but polite — in one 
word, such a contradiction as Victor Hugo, with a vast fund of 
knowledge, and a deposit of vanity which was never exhausted. 
He was a ready-made Secessionist when the rebellion came, 
and yet his light shone feebly in that dark conspiracy. Virginia 
always had a supply of good speakers. Thomas H. Bayley, 
with his gold spectacles and ambrosial locks, and his Southern 
idiom, a compound of the negro and the scholar ; Charles 
James Faulkner, with his pleasant smile, dandy dress, and 
flowing phrases ; James M. Mason, with his Dombey diction 
and pompous pretense ; R. M. T. Hunter, with his quiet and 
careful conservatism ; Roger A. Pryor, with his impetuous and 
dazzling temperament — these were all first-class speakers, 
though as distinct as their own faces. The noisiest man in 
the immediate ante-war Congress was George S. Houston, of 
Alabama ; the most quarrelsome was Keitt, of South Carolina ; 
the best-tempered, Orr, of the same State ; the most acrid, 
George W. Jones, of Tennessee ; the jolliest, Senator Jere Clem- 
ens, of Alabama ; the most supercilious. Senator Slidell, of 
Louisiana; the most genial. Senator Anthony Kennedy, of 

C2 



58 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Maryland ; and the boldest and coarsest, Wigfall, of Texas. 
Breckinridge was, in many respects, a true orator, and seemed 
to copy much from Clay and Crittenden. Jefferson Davis was 
always a capital dialectician, not strong in argument, but always 
stern in convictions. Hammond, of South Carolina, had a good 
presence and a persuasive tone, but was not a great man. 
Toombs, of Georgia, was the stormy petrel, often grand as a 
declaimer, and always intolerant, dogmatic, and extreme. He 
was as violent in 1850, when he was a Unionist, as he was in 
i860, when he became a Secessionist. 

Two scenes are deeply imprinted on my memory. They ex- 
hibit the two schools of oratory, West and South. One was the 
remarkable appeal of Hon. James McDowell, of Virginia, in the 
House of Representatives, on the 3d of September, 1850. That 
was the initiative period — the porch^ so to speak, which intro- 
duced us to the arena of civil war ; and McDowell, like other 
patriots, stood upon its steps and predicted the dark future if 
we did not harmonize. He was then in his fifty-fifth year, not 
in good health, but full of genuine love of liberty. He had won 
high honors as a popular speaker in Virginia. Born in that 
State, and educated at Princeton College, New Jersey, he was 
profoundly attached to the Union. He was filled with appre- 
hensions of dismemberment in 1850. The extremists demand- 
ed that California should not be admitted as a free State with- 
out an equivalent in the extension of slave territory — an exac- 
tion indignantly resisted by the North. The agitation was in- 
tense — the peril imminent. At this moment Mr. McDowell 
rose to address the House. His tall form, graceful gestures, 
and commanding voice revived the expectations created by his 
fame as a Virginia orator, and his sustained and splendid ap- 
peal confirmed them. When he proclaimed these noble words 
the House broke forth into involuntary applause, which could 
not be restrained by Speaker Cobb : 

" Fr.om the empire of Nebuchadnezzar to that of Napoleon, 



JAMES Mcdowell, of Virginia. 59 

how immense the distance, how stupendous the revolutions that 
have intervened, how intense the fiery contests which have 
burned over continents and ages, changing their theatre and 
their instruments, and leaving upon the whole surface of the 
globe scarce a spot unstained by their desolating and bloody 
track j and yet no national offspring has sprung from them all 
so fitted as our own United America to redeem for the world 
the agonies they have cost it. AVhatever, in that long period, 
other nations may have risen up to be, and however truly and 
illustriously a few of them may have prolonged their day and 
advanced the civilization and the wisdom of themselves and 
the world, still none of them has ever embodied such an aggre- 
gate of rational happiness or political truth as our own Repub- 
lic, and none like it has ever fulfilled the ultimate problem of 
all government, that, namely, of making the utmost freedom of 
the citizen and the utmost power of the State the co-existing 
and the upholding conditions of one another. With a freedom 
only inferior to that of Rome in the worst qualities of hers, 
those of aggression and conquest, and superior to that of 
Greece in its best, those of civilization and defense -, with noth- 
ing but this freedom, its story and its triumphs, our Republic has 
become confederate alike with the liberty sentiment of the 
world and with the majestic power of human sympathy to prop- 
agate itself, and hence its flag is destined to wave not only over 
an empire of illimitable means but over the illimitable empires 
of re-born and self-governing man. And now that this Repub- 
lic of freedom, happiness, and power is a heritage of ours, who 
that has shared, as we have done, in the countless blessings 
that belong to it — who that knows it, as we do, to be the herit- 
age of every good which human nature can enjoy or human 
government secure — who, so situated, could make it or could 
see it the sport of violent, selfish, or parricidal passions ? Who 
of us, without putting forth every faculty of soul and body to 
prevent it, would see it go down, down under some monstrous 



6o ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Struggle of brother with brother, an external crush upon our- 
selves, an external example for the shuddering, the admonition, 
the horror, and the curse of universal man ? There have been 
those who, impelled only by their own noble and generous nat- 
ure, have rushed forward on the field of battle and given their 
own bosom to the blow of death, that thereby some loved com- 
rade or commander might be spared, or some patriotic purpose 
vindicated and secured ; there have been those who have gone 
into the dungeons of misfortune and of guilt, and worn out the 
days and years of their own lives that they might alleviate the 
disease or the despair of their wretched inmates, and, at least, 
kindle up for another world the aspirations and hopes which 
were extinguished for this. And there have been others, too, 
who have companioned with the pestilence, and have walked, 
day by day, in its silent and horrid footsteps, that they might 
learn in what way to encounter its power, and so be enabled, 
reverently, to lift up from crushed and anguished communities 
the too heavy pressing of the hand of the Almighty. And arq, 
we, who hold the sublimest political trust ever committed to the 
hands of any other people — are we alone to be incapable of any 
and every dedication of ourselves which that trust requires ? 
Can we stand calmly, helplessly, and faithlessly by, and allow 
it to be wrecked and lost ? 

" In this hour of danger — this eventful hour of the age — this 
hour which is all in all to us and to millions besides, those op- 
pressed millions of other lands who are ruled by irresponsible 
power, and who, as they lie upon the earth, overwhelmed and 
crushed by the weight of altars or of thrones, still look to us for 
hope, and pour out their hearts in sobbings and in prayer to 
Heaven that ours may be the radiant and the steady light which 
shall never bewilder or betray ; in this hour, so full of interest, 
our mother country comes into our very midst, and taking each 
by the hand, says to each: ^ Son, give me, give me thy heart' 
And will we not, can we not do it ? Can we not give it freely, 



OWEN LOVEJOY. 6 1 

proudly give it all ? keeping no part of it back for any end or 
any passion of our own, though dear, it may be, as a right eye 
or a right arm. If any of us can not— if there is any lingering, 
denying, clinging feeling which the heart will not or can not de- 
liver over at such a moment, let us tear that heart from our bo- 
som if we can, and lift up our supplications to the Father above 
that he would send us another in its place, better fitted for the 
sight of Heaven and for the service and fellowship of man. 

"Give us in our duties here but something of the spirit of 
the Roman father, who delivered up his son to the axe of jus- 
tice because he loved his country better than his blood, or that 
of the gallant young officer of the Revolution, who was detected 
and executed while performing under the orders of his immor- 
tal chief the service of a spy. [Lieutenant Hale.] When led 
to the spot of execution, as he stood upon it and looked forth, 
for the last time, upon the smile of day, and upon the bright and 
benignant sun of Heaven as it beamed upon him, and felt the 
agony that all— all was gone, his young and hopeful and joyous 
nature involuntarily shrank, and he is said to have cried out 
with impassioned exclamations : 'Oh, it is a bitter, bitter thing 
to die, and how bitter, too, to know that I have but one life 
which I can give to my country!' Give us only this spirit for 
our work here; doubt not but that it will be approved of by our 
land, and be crowned with a long futurity of thankfulness and 
rejoicing." 

The other scene was when, some ten years later, Owen Love- 
joy, of Illinois, startled the House by one of those terrific ex- 
plosions of eloquence so uncommon in these now formal times. 
It will be recollected that his brother had been killed by a pro- 
slavery mob at Alton, Illinois, some years before, simply for 
publishing an anti-slavery paper. He made this the text of his 
argument, and never was there a more thrilling or effective one. 
He was much affected, and his emotions affected others on both 
sides of the House. I regret I can not fix the exact date of 



62 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

this memorable display, to complete the parallel with the Vir- 
ginia statesman and patriot. 

They were eminently representative men. As orators they 
were most dissimilar. McDowell was tall and dignified ; Love- 
joy short, quick, and impetuous. McDowell's complexion was 
light ; Lovejoy's dark as a Spaniard's, save in moments of ex- 
citement, when it fairly glowed. Had McDowell lived during 
the war he would undoubtedly have been a Secessionist, like all 
of his school ; but his words are not less applicable to-day than 
they were in 1850. Lovejoy lived to see three years of war, 
and to enjoy the abolition of slavery, for which he had prayed 
and toiled. He preceded his friend, Abraham Lincoln, a little 
more than a twelvemonth. I knew him well. He was as gen- 
erous as he was brave ; as gentle as he was sincere. A de- 
voted friend, a chivalric foe, he has left a record honorable to 
himself, his posterity, and his country. 

McDowell died in August of 185 1, in less than a year after 
his noble speech from which I quote, aged fifty-five. Lovejoy 
died March 25, 1864, aged fifty-three. They should have lived 
longer, but they lived long enough to leave thousands to mourn 
their loss and to revere their memory. 

[March 2, 1871.] 



XHL 

James Buchanan had, like most men, a few favorite anec- 
dotes, which he was sure to reproduce to every new visitor who 
ate his excellent dinners and drank his nutty old Madeira. 
One of these related to President Jackson. It was a custom 
of Mr. Buchanan's enemies to say that he never had the entire 
confidence of Old Hickory. Certain it is he never had the sup- 
port of Amos Kendall, Francis P. Blair, or Andrew J. Donel- 



PENNSYLVANIAN POLITICIANS. 6^ 

son, Jackson's immediate friends, or Kitchen Cabinet; yet not 
less true is it that, when James K. Polk was chosen President 
in 1844, the venerable Jackson, then at the Hermitage, near 
Nashville, wrote a strong letter to his friend and neighbor, the 
new Chief Magistrate, recommending Mr. Buchanan for Secre- 
tary of State. George M. Dallas, of Pennsylvania, was chosen 
Vice-President on the same ticket with Mr. Polk. He, like 
Buchanan, was a standing candidate for the first office in the 
nation, and it may well be conceived that there was no love 
lost between the rivals and their friends. What reader of these 
sketches who lives in Pennsylvania does not remember those 
days ? Colonel James Page, Benjamin Harris Brewster, George 
W. Barton, Horn R. Kneass, Henry M. Phillips, Henry Simp- 
son, William Badger, Ellis B. Schnable, and last, not least, Hen- 
ry Horn, were among the leaders who fought under the re- 
spective banners of Dallas and Buchanan. The city of Phila- 
delphia was the theatre of their bitter contests for many years. 
But the great field of strife was Harrisburg. Simon Cameron, 
of Dauphin ; Reah Frazer and Benjamin Champneys, of Lan- 
caster ; Arnold Plumer, of Venango ; Wilson McCandless, H. 
S. Magraw, and S. W. Black, of Alleghany; Henry D. Foster, 
of Westmoreland ; Henry Welsh, of York; Morrow B. Lowry, 
of Erie; John Hickman and Wilmer Worthington, of Chester; 
John B. Sterigere, of Montgomery; Richard Brodhead and A. 
H. Reeder, of Northampton; C. L.Ward, David Wilmot, and 
Victor E. Piollet, of Bradford ; W. F. Packer, of Lycoming; Asa 
Packer, of Carbon — these and a host more, many since dead, 
stood forth to fight for these two men in the Democratic State 
Conventions with a devotion not usual in these more selfish 
times. The election of Dallas was a hard blow at our Buchan- 
an side of the house; but J. B. was not easily baffled; and so, 
when we got Old Hickory to indorse him for Secretary of State, 
we felt that we had checkmated the Philadelphia favorite. And 
we were right, for no Vice-President was ever more ignored 



64 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

than George M. Dallas — not even John C. Breckinridge, who 
fell under the suspicion of President Buchanan the moment he 
was nominated, and never fully recovered from it. Notwith- 
standing this, James Buchanan retained George M. Dallas as 
minister to England all through his rule, and thereby proved 
that if he could forget a friend he could also forgive a foe. 

But to my anecdote. I heard Mr. Buchanan repeat it the 
last time at the Sunday dinner-table of John T. Sullivan, of 
Washington, one of the most interesting and genial of men, 
known and beloved alike at the nation's capital and in Phila- 
delphia. He was a Democrat of the old school — a Jackson 
Democrat ; was a Government director in the Bank of the 
United States with Peter Wager and Henry D. Gilpin; and yet 
he was so cosmopolitan and catholic that every man of distinc- 
tion was glad to receive and prompt to accept his invitations. 
Clay, Webster, Calhoun, Crittenden, Clayton, Silas Wright, Doc- 
tor Linn, Colonel Benton, Sam Houston, William C. Rives, 
Charles Jared Ingersoll, Edward Everett, Rufus Choate, fre- 
quently discussed public affairs over his roast beef, baked po- 
tatoes, and iced wines. I was a boy when first asked into this 
select circle, with its feast of reason and its flow of soul — its gen- 
erous inaugural of soup, re-enforced by good wines, and supple- 
mented, after dinner, by unforgotten punch, brewed by the hand 
of the good old man now in his grave. At one of these din- 
ners I heard Old Buck repeat his story of General Jackson, 
probably for the hundredth time. 

Shortly after Mr. Buchanan's return from Russia in 1834, to 
which he had been sent by President Jackson in 1832, and im- 
mediately following his election to the Senate of the United 
States by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, to fill the unexpired 
term of William Wilkins, resigned, w^ho, in his turn, was sent to 
succeed Buchanan in the same foreign mission, Buchanan called 
upon Old Hickory with a fair English lady, whom he desired to 
present to the head of the American nation. Leaving her in the 



ANDREW JACKSON. 65 

reception-room down stairs, he ascended to the President's pri-^ 
vate quarters and found General Jackson unshaved, unkempt, 
in his dressing-gown, with his slippered feet on the fender be- 
fore a blazing wood fire, smoking a corn-cob pipe of the old 
Southern school. He stated his object, when the General said 
he would be very glad to meet the handsome acquaintance of 
the new bachelor Senator. Mr. Buchanan was always carefuP 
of his personal appearance, and, in some respects, was a sort 
of masculine Miss Fribble, addicted to spotless cravats and 
huge collars ; rather proud of a small foot for a man of his 
large stature, and to the last of his life what the ladies would 
call " a very good figure." Having just returned from a visit^^ 
to the fashionable continental circles, after two years of thor- 
ough intercourse with the etiquette of one of the stateliest courts 
in Europe, he was somewhat shocked at the idea of the Presi- 
dent meeting the eminent English lady in such a guise, and 
ventured to ask if he did not intend to change his attire, where- 
upon the old warrior rose, with his long pipe in his hand, and, 
deliberately knocking the ashes out of the bowl, said to his 
friend : "Buchanan, I want to give you a little piece of advice, 
which I hope you will remember. I knew a man once who 
made his fortune by attending to his own business. Tell the 
lady I will see her presently." 

The man who became President in 1856 was fond of saying 
that this remark of Andrew Jackson humiliated him more than 
any rebuke he had ever received. He walked down stairs to 
meet his fair charge, and in a very short time President Jack- 
son entered the room, dressed in a full suit of black, cleanly 
shaved, with his stubborn white hair forced back from his re- 
markable face, and, advancing to the beautiful Britisher, saluted 
her with almost kingly grace. As she left the White House she 
exclaimed to her escort, ".Your republican President is the royal 
model of a gentleman." 

[April 9, 1 87 1.] 



66 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



XIV. 

Shortly after the return of Henry E. Muhlenberg from the 
court of Austria, to which he had been appointed minister by 
President Van Buren in 1838, I was invited by General Cam- 
eron to take a ride with him from Middletown to Reading, via 
Pottsville. It was in May of 184 1 or '42, the loveliest spring 
month of the year. We took it leisurely, had a fine pair of 
horses and a comfortable carriage, and enjoyed the scenery, the 
weather, and the conversation of the people, with whom Gen- 
eral Cameron was, even at that early day, on the most familiar 
terms. It was very pleasant to notice how intimately he un- 
derstood the habits and history of the people of the whole 
country-side through which we passed — how, at intervals, he 
would stop the carriage, hail the passer-by, ask about his 
health, joke with him on politics, inquire after his wife, sons, 
and daughters by name, and enter into a familiar speculation 
as to the coming crops. I can not recall all the incidents of 
this delightful drive. There was no railroad in those days from 
Harrisburg to Lebanon and Reading, and none from Pottsville 
to Reading, so that after free and cordial intercourse with the 
politicians at John W. Weaver's old-fashioned hotel in Potts- 
ville, we proceeded to the county seat of Berks, where the car- 
riage was dismissed, as we had determined to go to Philadelphia 
by the Reading Railroad, which then terminated at that place. 
Calling upon Mr. Muhlenberg, we found him full of anecdotes 
of his over two years' residence at Vienna. His son and name- 
sake Henry (who was elected a member of the Thirty-third 
Congress, in which body he only appeared a single day, having 
sickened with typhoid fever, from the effects of which he died 
on the 9th of January, 1854) had accompanied his father as 
Secretary of Legation, and was present on the occasion of our 
visit. General Cameron was an ardent partisan of Mr. Muh- 



HENRY E. MUHLENBERG. 67 

lenberg, who was then a prominent candidate for Governor. 
As my relations to Mr. Buchanan were close and intimate, and 
my preferences rather for Francis R. Shunk — the great rival 
of Mr. Muhlenberg — it was thought that my visit to the Berks 
County statesman would do much to control the delegates from 
my native county. I think I preserved a proper neutrality for 
so young a man — six years younger than Mr. Muhlenberg's son. 
We conversed freely about Europe and about his father's pros- 
pects. It will be recollected that James Buchanan was a can- 
didate for President for more than twenty years before he at- 
tained that high position. He could not afford, therefore, to 
take part between the competitors for State offices, and it was 
primarily necessary that the delegates from his own county of 
Lancaster to the State convention should be divided between 
the two great men who were then contesting for the gubernato- 
rial prize. I was particularly struck with the affable and cor- 
dial manners of Mr. Muhlenberg, and with the foreign graces 
imported into good old Berks by his brilliant and self-assured 
son. We talked very little politics, but as the object was to 
make a good impression upon us, Mr. Muhlenberg directed the 
servant to open a bottle of Johannisberger (the wine celebrated 
for centuries, yet as utterly unknown to me as if it had been 
the nectar of the gods), and as he opened the cork he said : 
" This is the genuine article," the only wine of the kind that 
had ever come to America up to that period, "and was pre- 
sented to me by the Emperor himself" — of whom it is historical 
justice to say that Mr. Muhlenberg, who was a thorough Ger- 
man scholar and a gentleman, was always a confidant and 
friend. When the cork was drawn, the aroma of the wine 
seemed to fill the room, and the first bottle was soon dispatched, 
when General Cameron, with his own peculiar manner, insisted 
on another, upon which Mr. Muhlenberg gayly remarked, "You 
shall have it, although it costs a great deal of money." The 
contest between Muhlenberg and Shunk will be remembered 



68 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

by all the Pennsylvania politicians. Muhlenberg won the nom- 
ination, and Buchanan lost Muhlenberg's confidence. 

He died before the election, on the 12 th of August, 1844, and 
the flag of the party was placed in the hands of his defeated 
competitor, Francis R. Shunk, who was elected in October of 
the same year. Had Muhlenberg lived, with his large wealth, 
fine acquirements, and winning manners, he would have been 
the most formidable enemy of Buchanan's Presidential aspira- 
tions. As it was, his successor. Governor Shunk, soon got into 
coUision with Buchanan, not because he deserved that fate, but 
because of his inability or the inability of any aspirant for the 
Presidency to steer by devious courses between rival candidates 
for other and inferior places. Mr. Buchanan at last secured 
the nomination for the Presidential bauble, and there was, I 
think, no living Muhlenberg who supported him, except the 
venerable Dr. Muhlenberg at Lancaster. 

[April 16, 1 87 1.] 



XV. 

The wit and sentiment of the dinner-table, encircled by in- 
telligent men and women, if they could have been recorded, 
say for the last thirty years, would be a treasure above price. 
Flashed out under the influences of generous fare and refined 
familiarity, they startle or delight, like so many meteors, and 
are as speedily forgotten, or, if remembered at all, never re- 
peated with their original brilliancy. The only man alive that 
I know, for instance, who can tell us about Daniel Webster at 
the dinner-table, is the world-known host of the Astor House, 
New York, Charles Stetson. I saw him a fbw weeks since, and 
found him as genial and as full of incident as he was when I 
first met, under his storied roof, the leading characters of the 



DINNER-TABLE WITS. 69 

period — between 1846 and 185 1 — when John Van Buren, Hen- 
ry J. Raymond, George Law, Horace Greeley, James T. Brady, 
E. B. Hart, John Brougham, Daniel E. Sickles, Edwin Forrest, 
Thurlow Weed, Dean Richmond, Henry G. Stebbins, Peter 
Cagger, congregated there in social intercourse, to discuss pol- 
itics and poetry, science and art, steam-ships and railroads, can- 
didates and creeds. This goodly company is now widely scat- 
tered. Some have been introduced to the mysteries beyond 
the grave. Webster, John Van Buren, James T. Brady, Dean 
Richmond, Peter Cagger, Henry J. Raymond, are entered upon 
the endless roll of death. Thurlow Weed is writing his memo- 
ries in honored and philosophical retirement j George Law is 
living respected upon his immense fortune, the product of a 
career of unmatched energy ; Marshall O. Roberts, after an 
experience of even greater daring and progress, emerges from 
his repose to lend his large wealth and ripe judgment to the 
grandest of all the Pacific railroads ; Horace Greeley vibrates 
between his editorial room and his farm, happy in his perfect 
independence and in the consciousness that he has secured the 
golden opinions of all sorts of people ; Daniel E. Sickles crowns 
a stormy and brilliant life as his country's representative at one 
of the oldest European courts ; John Brougham is as fertile, 
alike as actor and author, as he was in 185 1 ; Forrest, after fifty 
years' service on the stage, is slowly withdrawing from an arena 
in which he has all this long period figured as the uncontested 
monarch, living on the rich harvest of his brain in his noble 
mansion in Philadelphia, surrounded by his books, which he 
enjoys with a student's zest, and by his engravings, his photo- 
graphs, his pictures, and his statuary; Colonel Stebbins is the 
beloved centre of a circle of devoted friends, the patron of art, 
the philosopher, the statesman, the advanced Democrat who 
was chosen to Congress without solicitation, and resigned be- 
cause if he voted with the men who elected him he would dis- 
honor himself, and if he voted against them he would betray 



70 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

them — the Republican who dines at the Democratic Manhattan 
Club, and still associates with those who know he differs from 
them from honest convictions ; E. B. Hart, the leading repre- 
sentative and the best type of the Hebrews of New York, 
watching the vast charities of his race as their trustee and coun- 
selor. The Astor House, once the chosen rendezvous of these 
men and their contemporaries, sees them rarely within its hon- 
ored walls. The wave of fashion and of wealth has carried 
them up town. Business holds them only a few hours in its 
vicinity; the afternoon and night find them in their distant 
homes, or in the more convenient clubs and hotels that have 
risen like so many palaces along and near the magnificent ave- 
nues stretching toward the Central Park. 

Ah ! that I could recall and describe the happy hours I have 
spent with most of these men — the humor, the sentiment, the 
learning, the information, that made our meetings so pleasant 
and profitable. They are gone, like many who mingled in our 
delightful symposia. 

One of these I specially cherish. It was a night spent with 
Forrest, George W. Barton, James T. Brady, E. B. Hart, Elli- 
ott (the matchless portrait-painter), William A. Seaver, one of 
the choice WTiters for Harper's Magazine and Weekly, Lewis 
Gaylord Clark, of The Knickerhocker, Captain Hunter, of the 
navy, and one or two more I can not recollect. The speech of 
Barton, the anecdotes and imitations of Forrest, the jokes of 
Clark, the repartees of Brady, the art-history of Elliott, the sea- 
legends of Hunter — I bear them all in memory, and almost see 
their faces, though more than twenty years have gone, and the 
flowers and verdure of this early spring are blossoming and 
growing above the graves of Brady, Elliott, and Hunter. 

John Van Buren was the despot of the dinner-table. He 
had a way of assuming the command that made him resistless, 
and he had the bearing, the voice, and the domination that 



DINNER-TABLE WITS. 7 1 

seemed to give equity to the title of " Prince," bestowed by his 
enemies and adopted by his friends. 

James T. Brady's massive head, with its coronal of curls, his 
graceful form, electric wit, ready rhetoric, and Irish enthusi- 
asm — how I see and hear and feel them all, now that he, too, 
like Van Buren, has been gathered by the great Shepherd to 
the eternal fold. 

The best dinner-table orator, the sharpest wit when the cloth 
is removed, the most genial of public hosts, is my dear friend, 
Morton McMichael, of Philadelphia. Time has not withered 
him, either in humor or digestion, judging by my last two expe- 
riences : that when he spoke to the trustees of the Peabody 
fund, some weeks ago, at the Continental Hotel, in Philadel- 
phia, and that when he presided over the dinner given by the 
journalists of Philadelphia to Colonel Charles J. Biddle, the 
editor of The Age, the Democratic organ of Pennsylvania. 

Probably no man ever lived in this country who made, at 
least in his short career, more impression upon society gener- 
ally than John T. S. Sullivan, a Boston-born gentleman, the 
college-mate of Charles Sumner, who removed to Philadelphia, 
and died there on the 31st of December, 1848, aged thirty-five. 
He was singularly, perhaps dangerously, gifted. La\vyer, ora- 
tor, scholar, and man of society, loved alike by men and women, 
he passed away too early, but left behind him a name never to 
be forgotten by his friends. 

Nobody I know excels Daniel Dougherty, of Philadelphia, 
in ready wit at the dinner-table, in powers of imitation, in grace- 
ful conversation, and apt response. He is our James T. Brady. 
Gray hairs are gathering over you, dear friend, but you have 
preser\^ed an unspoiled name, and are growing in wisdom and 
caution with increasing greenbacks and years. 

[April 23, 1871.] 



72 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



XVI. 



A GREAT many people who read the proceedings of Congress 
puzzle themselves with the question what is meant by the ex- 
ecutive session of the Senate of the United States. This ses- 
sion is, in fact, the Masonry of American legislation. There is 
perhaps nothing like it in civilized government, although the 
theory of it pervades the administration of all nations. This 
theory is that there are certain things in public affairs which 
can not be intrusted to the public. Among these are treaties 
with foreign powers, and important official nominations. To 
discuss these in the presence of an inquisitive newspaper world 
would be to reveal to outside rivals much that ought to be con- 
cealed, and to expose private character to universal criticism. 
The executive session of the Senate is in many respects like 
the confidential meetings of the Odd Fellows, the Knights of 
Pythias, and the Masons, without partaking of any of the pe- 
culiar traits of these honored and honorable orders. When the 
Senate resolves to go into executive session the galleries are 
cleared of spectators, and the newspaper and Globe reporters 
retire, frequently with a gladsome smile, because, in many cases, 
they have become fatigued with the "damnable (rhetorical) iter- 
ation." Our friend Murphy, the pleasant successor of the ven- 
erable Mr. Sutton, with his official corps of rapid and ravenous 
short-handers — who transcribe the oratorical volume poured 
out day after day by the Senate, and poured into the columns 
of The Globe — recedes to his little room when the president an- 
nounces that the Senate will go into executive session, unutter- 
ably relieved. Sometimes a motion to go into executive ses- 
sion is carried before a word has been spoken in public debate, 
and that is the welcome exception to Murphy. I wish I could 
tell you all that transpires when the doors of the Senate are 
shut, and the spectators and newspaper men are driven out; 



IN EXECUTIVE SESSION. 



73 



but as my obligations to keep this secret did not terminate with 
my resignation as Secretary of the Senate, I can only talk to 
you of the manners of that highly respectable conclave. The 
first thing is the utter abandon of the Senators. They have 
no audiences to look down upon and listen to them. They 
have no gentlemen with the lightning pen to telegraph them to 
distant points. They are not called upon to face and to fear 
their constituency. Bound together by a solemn covenant not 
to reveal what transpires, they do exactly what pleases them 
most. I must say, with my frequent opportunities of observation, 
I have seen few w^ho ever overpassed the courtesies and the 
proprieties of the place. All are easier and more familiar than 
when under the universal eye of a suspicious People. Those 
who smoke, smoke ; those w^ho like to be comfortable, take off 
their coats — but there is no such thing as dissipation, at least in- 
side the chamber. Debate is made free because there is nobody 
to take it down, and the altercations, common in the open Sen- 
ate, are not uncommon between those walls ; and yet the perfect 
familiarity of the Senators, and the absence of all restraint, con- 
tribute to the adjustment of every dispute, however violent. 

Talking about these executive sessions reminds me of the 
difficulty of keeping an official secret. The Senators are all 
oath-bound not to disclose executive business, and they rarely 
do so, unless as regards nominations and confirmations for po- 
litical offices ; but as these involve nothing of important polit- 
ical concern, there is a common courtesy that when a man is 
rejected or confirmed the circumstance may be freely spoken 
of; and it deserves to be said of the Senators generally that 
they keep what is intrusted to them with unusual fidelity. To 
exercise ordinary discretion and care requires extraordinary 
tact. The doors of the Senate are scarcely opened after exec- 
utive session, when the whole newspaper tribe besiege the Sen- 
ators with inquiries, and he must be a rare man who can refuse 
to drop a word to an editorial or reportorial friend, 

D. 



74 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Cabinet Ministers have many secrets confided to them, and 
great ingenuity is required to rescue them from dangerous reve- 
lations. The safest depositary of an official secret I ever knew 
was James Buchanan. This may have resulted from his cold 
and unimpassioned nature. Certain it is, he never betrayed 
what took place either in the Senate or in the Cabinet. The 
manner in which he preserved and kept from public view the 
fact of his nomination as Secretary of State under President 
Polk, twenty-nine years ago, is a good illustration. He was re- 
garded as the probable successor of Daniel Webster, who held 
that great portfolio under most of the administration of John 
Tyler, but there were many doubters. I remember being pres- 
ent at a dinner given at the National Hotel by Commodore 
Stockton, of New Jersey, a few days before the inauguration of 
President Polk, in February of 1845. Among the guests were 
General William O. Butler, of Kentucky ; George Bancroft, of 
New York ; Robert J. Walker, of Mississippi ; and John R. 
Thompson, of New Jersey — all since dead, except Bancroft, now 
at Berlin. Commodore Stockton was exceedingly anxious to 
discover the material of the incoming Cabinet, and he offered a 
wager that he could name a majority of the men who were to 
compose it. That wager was taken by Mr. Buchanan, without 
an allusion to his contingent connection with the new Adminis- 
tration. He was so careful and cautious that, up to the time 
of his nomination by President Polk, no friend — not even the 
one nearest to him — could positively assert that he would be 
associated with it in any way. 

I observe that the Lancaster Examiner, without absolute- 
ly contradicting my statement that General Jackson recom- 
mended James Buchanan to James K. Polk for Secretary of 
State, questions it upon the theory that General Jackson had 
never previously trusted " Pennsylvania's favorite son." All I 
have to say in reply, is that I have no doubt this letter of Gen- 
eral Jackson in favor of Mr. Buchanan will be found among the 



THE MILLS HOUSE. 75 

private papers of the latter, and that his biographer will estab- 
lish the fact as I have stated it. That General Jackson was 
never a special friend of James Buchanan is most true, but that 
he recommended Buchanan to James K. Polk as the first man 
in his Cabinet is my sincere belief. 

[April 30, 1 87 1.] 



XVII. 

The winter before the war, shortly after having been again 
elected Clerk of the House of Representatives of the United 
States, I rented two large chambers on the lower floor of what 
is known on Capitol Hill as " The Mills House," and occupied 
them, with brief intervals, until March of 187 1 — sometimes in- 
cluding the two upper parlors, and occasionally taking posses- 
sion of the whole house, which was very large and commodious; 
but this only happened when I called my friends around me, 
about once every three months. I began these assemblies 
shortly after the outbreak of the rebellion, for the purpose of 
creating and cementing a patriotic public opinion. My guests 
were always numerous enough to fill every room in the house, 
including the basement. They were men of all ideas, profes- 
sions, and callings. We had no test but devotion to our coun- 
try. We met like a band of brothers— the lawyer, the clergy- 
man, the editor, the reporter, the poet, the painter, the inventor, 
the politician, the stranger, the old citizen, the Southerner and 
the Northerner, the soldier and the statesman, the clerk and 
the Cabinet Minister, and last, not least. President Lincoln 
himself. Nothing was spared to add to the interest of these 
symposia. We had speeches and recitations, vocal and instru- 
mental music, all adding to the main objective point — the 
awakening of an enthusiasm for the assailed Republic. If a 



76 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

leading man reached Washington on the day of our meeting he 
was instantly invited. A journal of the proceedings of these 
hearty foregatherings would be unusually attractive reading. 
At one table Thaddeus Stevens would be found playing a game 
of whist with the Democratic Representative from Indiana, the 
venerable John Law ; at another William Pitt Fessenden and 
Senator Nesmith, of Oregon. Speaker, now Vice-President 
Colfax, would be seen in the corner with his inevitable cigar, 
talking with Hon. Samuel J. Randall, the Democratic Repre- 
sentative from the First Pennsylvania district. In another re- 
cess George D. Prentice, of the Louisville Journal, would be 
discussing politics with Joseph Medill, of the Chicago Tribime. 
The great portrait -painter, Elliott, would be engaged in art- 
ethics with Brady, the photographer ; and so on through all the 
grades of sentiment and society. 

One evening in particular I shall never forget, when William 
H. Russell, the famous correspondent of the Loridon Times, was 
present. While we were singing the " Star-spangled Banner" 
(this was before we got rid of the peculiar institution), he joined 
in the chorus in a loud voice, singing " America, the land of 
the free, and the home of the slave.'^ There were argumenta- 
tions and discussions, but no quarreling. Another night, when 
nearly all the Cabinet were present, General Cameron, Secre- 
tary of War, startled the proprieties by taking bold ground in 
favor of arming the negroes. He was immediately answered 
by Plon. Caleb,'^. Smith, Secretary of the Interior, and the con- 
troversy became exceedingly animated, enlisting all the com- 
pany, silencing the music, and creating a deal of consternation. 
Robert J.Walker, George D. Prentice, and several more par. 
ticipated in the discussion, while Edwin M. Stanton, then a 
quiet practitioner of the law, stood by, a silent figure in the 
scene. 

Edwin Forrest was always one of us whenever he visited 
Washington, and, as I said in a former number, was the toast 



EDWIN FORREST. yy 

and the star of the night. He gave liberally to the Union cause, 
without being a Republican. Though he did not unite with us 
when we sung "John Brown," none could have been more 
graceful and ready in contributing to the general pleasure. One 
dramatic night I shall never forget. Forrest was in royal con- 
dition. He came early and stayed late. He seemed to be pre- 
pared to make every body happy. He needed no solicitation 
to display his varied stores of humor and of information : 
sketches of foreign travel ; photographs of Southern manners, 
alike of the master and the slave; his celebrated French criti- 
cism upon Shakespeare ; his imitation of the old clergyman of 
Charleston, South Carolina, who, deaf himself, believed every 
body else to be so ; his thrilling account of his meeting with 
Edmund Kean, at Albany, when Forrest was a boy; his inci- 
dents of General Jackson ; his meeting with Lafayette at Rich- 
mond, in 1825. Few that heard him can ever forget that night. 
But nothing that he did will be remembered longer than the 
manner in which he recited " The Idiot Boy," a production up 
to that time unknown to every body in the room except Forrest 
and myself, and to me only because I heard him repeat it seven 
years before, when I lived on Eighth Street, in the house lately 
known as the Waverley. These lines are so beautiful and so 
unique that I print them for the benefit of the readers of these 
hasty sketches. 

To add to their present value, it may be interesting to say 
that the verses subjoined are taken from an autograph copy, 
forwarded to me yesterday by my dear friend Forrest himself, 
accompanied by the following note. The style of Mr. Forrest's 
writing is as clear, correct, and careful as it was twenty years 
ago: 

"Philadelphia, May 4, 1871. 
"My Dear Forney,— I could not find the book that contains the little 
poem. I think fnend Dougherty has it, and so I have written it from mem- 
ory. 



78 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

" The author, who is doubtless in Heaven, will, I trust, pardon all mis- 
takes. Your friend, Edwin Forrest. 
" Colonel John W. Forney. 

"'THE IDIOT BOY. 

" ' It had pleased God to form poor Ned 
A thing of idiot mind. 
Yet, to the poor unreasoning boy, 
God had not been unkind. 

*' * Old Sarah loved her helpless child, 
Whom helplessness made dear ; 
And he was every thing to her, 
Who knew no hope or fear. 

" * She knew his wants, she understood 
Each half-articulate call, 
For he was every thing to her, 
And she to him was all. 

** * And so for many a year they lived, 
Nor knew a wish beside ; 
But age at last on Sarah came, 
And she fell sick — and died. 

" ' He tried in vain to waken her, 
He called her o'er and o'er; 
They told him she was dead ! 
The words to him no import bore. 

" * They closed her eyes and shrouded her, 
While he stood wondering by. 
And when they bore her to the grave, 
He followed silently. 

•* * They laid her in the narrow house. 
They sung the funeral stave ; 
And when the fun'ral train dispersed, 
He lingered by that grave. 

" ' The rabble boys that used to jeer 
Whene'er they saw poor Ned, 
Now stood and watched him by the grave. 
And not a word they said. 



THE IDIOT BOY. 79 

*' 'They came and went and came again, 
Till night at last came on ; 
Yet still he lingered by the grave, 
Till every one had gone. 

*« ' And when he found himself alone. 
He swift removed the clay ; 
Then raised the coffin up in haste, 
And bore it swift away. 

" * He bore it to his mother's cot, 
And laid it on the floor. 
And with the eagerness of joy 
He barred the cottage door. 

" ' Then out he took his mother's corpse, 
And placed it in a chair ; 
And soon he heaped the hearth. 
And made the kindling fire with care. 

" ' He had put his mother in /it^r chair, 
And in its wonted place, 
And then he blew the fire, which shone. 
Reflected in her face. 

" * And, pausing now, her hand would feel. 
And then her face behold : 
" W/i_y, mother, do you look so pale. 
And why are you so cold ?" 

" * It had pleased God from the poor wretch 
His only friend to call ; 
Yet God was kind to him, and soon 
In dcaf/i restored him «//.' " 

The picture of the Idiot Boy and his widowed mother, the 
broken voice and sobs of the son when the poor woman died 
and was followed to the grave by her witless child — if this grand 
picture could have been presented from the stage, it would 
have been even greater than his Zear or his Richelieu. I had 
Jefferson more than once as a visitor, and Davenport, and gen- 
erous, true-hearted Murdoch. 

But long before I was a tenant in the old Mills House it had 



8o ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

a peculiar story of its own. It is one of the institutions of 
Washington. Occupied during the last hundred years by men 
of all shades of politics, there is hardly a room in it that has 
not a legend by which to be remembered. George Washing- 
ton, John Marshall, and their contemporaries, have met and 
counseled within its walls, and the political leaders of a later 
period have successively gathered there. When I bade fare- 
well, nothing seemed more saddening to me than to feel that I 
had probably left the old house forever, and yet, whenever bus- 
iness calls me back to the National Capital, I return to these 
ancient rooms as a son goes back to home and fireside. But 
there are so many more reminiscences connected with these re- 
unions that I shall venture some other allusions to them in a 
future number. 

[May 7, 1871.] 



XVIII. 

RuFUS Choate, of Massachusetts, must have been, in most 
of his qualities, very like the lamented George W. Barton, of 
Pennsylvania. Quick and impetuous of speech, wholly original 
in manner, abounding in rich and gorgeous imagery, he was 
also a melancholy man, and his keen, quick intellect wore out 
and wore through a nervous organization. It will be remem- 
bered that his great heart was severely wounded when Daniel 
Webster was defeated by General Scott for the Whig nomina- 
tion for President at the Baltimore Convention in 1852, which 
he attended as a delegate from Massachusetts, and that from 
that hour his allegiance to his favorite party began to weaken, 
until 1856, when he took ground in favor of James Buchanan 
in his celebrated speech at Worcester — the effect of which will 
be recalled by the unforgotten sentence in which he called 



RUFUS CHOATE. 8 1 

upon his friends to support the Democratic candidate, because 
he " carried the flag and kept step to the music of the Union." 
I heard a very pleasant incident, some evenings ago, related by 
a distinguished Senator in Congress from one of the Western 
States, who was himself the party immediately benefited. Anx- 
ious when quite young to complete the study of his profession, 
he visited Boston, and called upon Mr. Choate and offered him- 
self as one of his students. Struck by the earnestness and 
frankness of the appeal, the great lawyer took him into his con- 
fidence, and soon realized that he could be made useful. At 
the end of two years, the student informed the preceptor that 
he intended to begin the practice of his profession in the flour- 
ishing State of Wisconsin. The answer of Mr. Choate was 
characteristic. He said : " I honor your determination, but I 
was selfish enough to hope that you might remain with me; yet, 
as you have resolved upon this step, you can always rely upon 
my friendship;" then asked if he had any money, to which the 
young man replied that he had no means to purchase his law 
library ; whereupon Mr. Choate said, " Go to Little & Brown 
(the old-established law publishers), select your books, and re- 
fer them to me as your security." Elated by this renewed mark 
of his esteem, he laid in what he conceived to be a good as- 
sortment, and took the list back to the great man, who, glancing 
over it, said, " Your list is too small ;" and, taking up the legal 
catalogue, he designated with his own hand a very much in- 
creased collection, amounting to some four or five thousand 
dollars, adding, " With these tools you can begin something like 
effective work." Our young practitioner started for the West, 
and opened his office, but, as bad luck would have it, was strick- 
en down by one of the dangerous fevers of the country. Of 
course he could not pay the note when it fell due, but Mr. 
Choate kindly and carefully protected his credit. , With un- 
broken spirit and restored health he began the practice of the 
law, and at the end of a comparatively short time earned enough 

D 2 



82 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

money to liquidate his obligation; "but," he said, "as long as 
life lasts I shall never cease to cherish the name of Rufus 
Choate, and I would walk from here to Boston barefooted to 
serve any of his kith or kin." 

Dwelling upon the devotion of Choate to Webster, and of 
Webster to Choate, our regret increases that these remarkable 
men had not, like John Quincy Adams, preserved a steady rec- 
ord of their busy and distinguished lives. How full of inci- 
dent they must have been ! They reveled in the enjoyment 
of literature and of all descriptions of learning. Wholly differ- 
ent in temperament, and yet alike in their eagerness to lead in 
great mental strifes, their written experience would have filled 
priceless volumes. Webster died in his seventieth year, and 
Choate in his sixty-first — the first in 1852, and the second in 
,1859, and the finest tribute ever paid to the Great Expounder 
was paid by his affectionate follower and friend at Dartmouth 
College, on July 27, 1853. 

How faithfully the elder statesman has described the differ- 
ence between the recollections of the mind and the memory of 
the heart will be realized in the following beautiful lines, not 
often published, which he contributed to a lady's album : 

" If stores of dry and learned lore we gain, 
Close keep them in the memory of the brain : 
Things, dates, and facts, whate'er we knowledge call. 
There is the common ledger of them all ; 
And images on this cold surface traced 
Make slight impression and are soon effaced. 

" But we've a record more beautiful and bright 
On which our friendships and our loves to write : 
That these may never from the mind depart, 
We trust them to the memory of the heart. 
There is no dimming — no effacement here, 
Each new pulsation keeps the record clear; 
Warm golden letters all the tablet fill. 
Nor lose their lustre till the heart stands still." 
[May 14, 1871.] 



GENIAL MEN. 83 



XIX. 



Sombre manners do not alv/ays prove the statesman. The 
greatest men I ever knew were plain of speech and plain of 
dress. Even those who could not tell a good story relished one 
from others. The clearest logician in the days of Jackson and 
Van Buren was Silas Wright, who was strangely modest and 
unobtrusive. Henry Clay, haughty and imperious as he often 
was, delighted in anecdote. The unequaled Webster was too 
wise and sensible not to enjoy humor. John C. Calhoun was 
almost child-like in his ways. William Wirt was ambitious, and 
literally reveled in the flowers of literature. John Quincy Ad- 
ams was too thorough a master of diplomacy not to know the 
value of wit. No man now living, either at home or abroad, 
more keenly enjoys music, painting, and poetry, and talks bet- 
ter about them, than Charles Sumner. His tastes are refined, 
his hospitalities generous, and his plate, pictures, and engrav- 
ings rare ; and he could pronounce as learned a discourse upon 
art as upon politics. There are not many wits in Congress at 
the present day. If you exclude Nye, of Nevada, in the Sen- 
ate, and Proctor Knott, of Kentucky, in the House, you will 
perhaps sigh for such old-time men as James Thompson, of 
Pennsylvania, and "Jack" Ogle, of the same State; Mike Walsh, 
of New York; Felix Grundy McConnell, of Alabama; William 
H. Polk, of Tennessee, and Sergeant S. Prentiss, of Mississippi. 
All these are dead but Thompson, who now presides over the 
Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, enjoying the confidence of 
men of all parties. It used to be a saying that the laugh of 
James Thompson, of Pennsylvania, was the most infectious 
laugh in the House. He could not sing, but he was a capital 
story-teller; and to-day,. when he unbends his judicial dignity, 
he can bring back the men of the past more vividly than any 
other man I know. I recollect well the pleasant evenings I 



84 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

spent while he was a memj)er of Congress, with winning, mag- 
netic Jack Ogle, from my native State. How rapidly, between 
the stories of the one and the songs of the other, time passed 
away ! Ogle had two favorites, one the famous poem entitled 
" Jeannette and Jeannot," which ought to have been often sung 
during the recent war between France and Germany. I shall 
never forget the effect produced by his exceedingly handsome 
face, ringing voice, and flashing eye, as he rolled forth these 
simple stanzas. They deserve to be repeated in every house- 
hold in the civilized world in this era of approaching peace and 
fraternization. Excuse me for reviving them : 

"JEANNETTE AND JEANNOT. 

" You are going far away, far away from poor Jeannette — 
There is no one left to love me now ; and you, too, may forget ; 
But my heart it will be with you, wherever you may go, 
Can you look me in the face and say the same to me, Jeannot .-' 
When you wear the jacket red and the beautiful cockade. 
Oh ! I fear that you'll forget all the promises you've made. 
With your gun upon your shoulder, and your bayonet by your side, 
You'll be taking some proud lady, and be making her your bride. 
You'll be taking, etc. 

•' Or when glory leads the way, you'll be madly rushing on, 
Never thinking if they kill you that my happiness is gone. 
Or if you win the day perhaps a general you'll be ; 
Though I am proud to think of that, love, what will become of me ? 
Oh ! if I were Queen of France, or still better. Pope of Rome, 
I'd have no fighting men abroad, no weeping maids at home : 
All the world should be at peace, or, if kings must show their might, 
Why let those who make the quarrels be the only men to fight. 
Yes, let those, etc." 

The other was a piece of domestic poetry, known as the 
" Arkansas Traveler." This would have been a monotonous 
recitation if it had not been relieved by a violin accompani- 
ment, which made it irresistibly comic. It was no doubt bor- 
rowed from the extreme South, whence it derived its name, yet 
it v/as always a favorite among the Scotch- Irish of Western 



WORK WITHOUT PLAY. S^ 

Pennsylvania, and is doubtless to this day recited along the 
Juniata, the West Branch, and in Lancaster and Chester coun- 
ties, in fact, wherever the Irish Presbyterian element is to be 
found. Ogle had caught the idea and utilized it in his Con- 
gressional campaigns, and it was really a treat to see him, 
drawn up to his full height, playing the air on the violin, and 
then asking humorous questions, as follows : 

" Stranger, how far is it to the next tavern ?" 

" About a mile," was the reply. Then again, resuming his 
bow, would play the monotonous chorus, and continue the dia- 
logue : 

" Stranger, can you give us the other part of that tune ?" 

"Oh, yes," -and repeat precisely the same strain, in addition 
to the printed words of the song. 

Ogle, during his performance, would introduce every person 
present and every joke in his recollection, and would thus run 
through an interminable length, tiring nobody except the chief 
actor himself, who would finally drop his instrument out of 
sheer exhaustion. 

So true it is that work without amusement is a sure prepara- 
tion for death ; that the brain, like the body, must have rest, 
and that when either is overworked, it is like the taper that 
goes out for want of oil. There is no sight more painful than 
the incessant occupation of public men, whether statesmen, 
scholars, editors, railroad officers, divines, or mechanics, who, 
misled by the fatal idea that labor may be pursued without 
pause or repose, discard all relaxation, and end either in sud- 
den death, or, what is worse, premature decay. There is no 
class of what may be called public men who live a longer av- 
erage life than the actors, and why ? Because, however hard 
they may work, they alternate work with pleasure. In fact, 
their work itself is pleasure. The philosophy of it consists, 
perhaps, in the romance of their profession, that while they are 
personating nature and depicting art, they are separated from 



86 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the hard realism of the outer world ; but whatever it may be, 
we are taught one lesson — that no man can enjoy real happi- 
ness without occasional recreation and freedom from care. 

Abraham Lincoln was a character by himself, incomparable 
and unique. He was among the saddest of humanity, and yet 
his sense of the ridiculous was so keen that it bore him up from 
difficulties that would have broken down almost any other man. 
That he gave way to uncontrollable fits of grief in the dark 
hours of the war is a fact beyond question— that sometimes his 
countenance was clouded with sorrow, all who met him know ; 
and yet he could, so to speak, lift himself out of his troubles, 
and enjoy his own repartees and the good things of others. 
Nothing gave me more pleasure in my frequent visits to him, as 
Secretary of the Senate and editor of The Chronicle, than to take 
with me men who would tell original stories in an original way ; 
for I felt that if I could lighten his cares and brighten his gloom 
I would be conferring a real favor, and I never was half so wel- 
come as when in such company. The old quirks and quips of 
the clown in the circus, the broad innuendoes of the low come- 
dian, the quiet sallies of the higher walks of the drama, inter- 
ested him more than the heavy cadences and profound philos- 
ophy of tragedy. Had his life not been extinguished by the 
assassin, his rare love of his kind, his perfect disinterestedness, 
his uncouth, yet entirely natural simplicity of character, and his 
absolute idolatry of every thing that was happy in nature and in 
man, would, I believe, have prolonged his life far beyond the 
Psalmist's age. 

[May 21, 1871.] 



WILLIAM WILKINS. 87 



XX. 



No Pennsylvania statesman is more kindly remembered than 
William Wilkins, who was born at Carlisle, Pa., December 20, 
1779, and died at Homewood, near Pittsburgh, June 23, 1865, 
in the 86th year of his age. His career may be said to have 
been unusually fortunate and distinguished j and when called 
away he was sincerely mourned by a community in which he 
had lived a long period, and taken an active part in public af- 
fairs. A Senator in Congress from 183 1 to 1834, successor to 
James Buchanan at the Court of St. Petersburg, Representa- 
tive in Congress from 1843 to 1844, Secretary of War under 
John Tyler from 1844 to 1845, member of the State Senate in 
1857, and intermediately a successful practitioner of the law 
and judge in the higher courts of his district, he filled all these 
diversified stations with signal dignity and tact. His family 
was closely identified with the Government in its political, judi- 
cial, military, and naval service — many of his connections to 
this day holding high and responsible positions. Reared to 
the habits and manners of good society, and well educated, he 
was one of the most agreeable of men ; and yet, while mingling 
much in fashionable life, he had confessedly few of its vices. I 
have seen him many an evening, when jollity, wit, and humor 
ruled the hour, yet he never touched a glass of wine, and was 
the chief attraction, by his endless flow of spirits and his pecul- 
iar magnetic amiability. When I was the Democratic candi- 
date for United States Senator, in 1857, before the Legislature 
of Pennsylvania, of which Mr. Wilkins was a member, I felt 
that we should have exchanged places, and that the post for 
which I was selected ought to have been tendered to him, and 
called upon him to make the suggestion. His answer was 
characteristic : " Ah, my young friend, I have seen the elephant, 
and it is quite time that you should have an opportunity of 



88 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

making his acquaintance," a luxury, by the way, which General 
Cameron stepped in and reserved for himself. 

I am reminded of this interesting character by a letter which 
I received a few days ago from my old friend, Dr. Jonas R. 
McClintock, of Pittsburgh, who attended the venerable states- 
man during his last illness, and who is devoting himself to the 
praiseworthy task of reviving the past history of Pittsburgh and 
Western Pennsylvania. His materials will run back a hundred 
years, and will, when embodied in book form, constitute not- 
only a valuable depository of facts, but, if written, as they will 
be, in the Doctor's pleasant style, one of the most fascinating 
memoirs of the times. If men like Dr. McClintock would oc- 
cupy a little of their leisure in the accomplishment of the same 
purpose, in their respective localities, they would honor them- 
selves and enrich the literature of their country. As a speci- 
men of the work now in course of preparation by Dr. McClin- 
tock, he inclosed to me the following striking incident of the 
last hours of his venerable friend, Judge Wilkins, now for the 
first time published : 

" Judge Wilkins gloried in the unimpeachable integrity that 
marked the ' bench,' and jealously guarded his own status in 
the profession by well and carefully determined opinions. It 
w^as a treat to listen to his criticisms on the public acts of the 
various departments of the Government as they transpired dur- 
ing the recent rebellion. It was a current on which he de- 
lighted to glide, affording invigorating exercise and securing an 
intellectual clearness that accompanied him through life. 

" On the occasion of a several days' anticipated visit, during 
the last few weeks of life, from his nearest neighbor, a medical 
friend, who was prevented making his customary unprofessional 
call, the Judge was found in a half-reclining position on his 
couch, in pleasant conversation with members of his family 
seated around, while the music of the little birds that had be- 
come wedded to the broad eastern portico by his punctual sup- 
plies, broke upon his ear their joyous song of thanks. 



JEFFERSON DAVIS TRIED. 89 

" After a pause, hesitating to mar this lovely patriarchal pict- 
ure, the defaulting visitor entered the open September door, to 
whom the Judge turned, and after words of -sharp but playful 
rebuke, closing with finding ample apology for apparent neglect 
in sickness at home, he said : * You can not guess. Doctor, how 
I have passed some of the tedious hours on my cot.' Pausing 
for a moment, he continued : ' I have been trying Jefferson 
Davis for high-treason. I have gone through the whole formu- 
la with all the solemnity of a great State trial; the court prop- 
erly constituted, the jury impaneled, and the prisoner arraign- 
ed, the latter answering to all counts in the indictment, " Not 
guilty." 

"Mn opening the case for the United States, I took occasion 
to assure the court that I would economize its valuable time so 
far as the prosecution was concerned, and close the case of the 
State in half an hour. 

" ' The first witness called to the stand was General Long- 
street, who, having been duly sworn, stated, in answer to an in- 
terrogatory, that he had commanded the armed forces of the 
Southern Confederacy who had invaded the District of Colum- 
bia, and within the limits of the city of Washington had killed 
and wounded more than one hundred Union soldiers, and that 
in so acting he had but obeyed the order of the chief command- 
er. General R. E. Lee. Waiving further question the witness 
was discharged, and General Lee called and duly sworn, who 
testified as to his position in the Confederate service, his direc- 
tions to Longstreet, and his subordination to Jefferson Davis, 
president and commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the 
Confederate States, from whom he had received instructions to 
invade Maryland and the District for the purposes carried out 
by his lieutenant-general. At this point I closed and rested 
my case. After hearing the defense, and without a word of ar- 
gument, I asked the jury to render a verdict of guilty. His 
fate was then sealed. The defense of want of jurisdiction— too 



90 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

late in presenting, and weak if entertained — left the prisoner's 
counsel to a silent submission, and he was duly convicted. 

" ' Yet in mercy I looked at the matter in another light, and 
to that end constituted myself the leading advocate of the pris- 
oner. After solemn arraignment, the calm, worn, but inflexible 
offender, who did not appear to shrink from the bloody conse- 
quences of his acts, or tremble at his own peril, following ?^y 
judgment ajid counsel as his only hope for the future, to the 
question put in the ponderous tones of the clerk — " Guilty or 
not guilty ?" said : " May it please the court, I answer guilty ! 
not morally y but politically guilty. Permit me to say further, the 
first lessons that fell on my ears at the hearthstone of my father 
— the first political teachings received at the feet of the wise 
and learned men of the academy and the university, and vindi- 
cated by the universal sentiment of those with whom I mingled 
in Southern homes, comprehended the doctrines inculcated by 
the Virginia resolutions of 1798, teaching allegiance as first due 
to the sovereignty of my State, subordinating that of the Gen- 
eral Government. 

" ' " This may in your wisdom, and in the judgment of the 
world, be determined a high crime \ but I submit that it was 
done in the faith of the right, and with the belief, however mis- 
guided, of conscientious duty. 

" ' "I therefore throw myself on the judgment of the court, and 
ask its merciful recommendation to pardon." 

" * I,' said the Judge, * felt that this was his only chance of 
escape. 

" ' Thus I have been filling up my time, dreaming myself away 
in the sturdy hope for an early return of fraternal feeling among 
the States.' " 

Standing on the very verge of the grave, after an eighty 
years' buffet with the world, pleasantly rehearsing the line of 
thought that had engaged his last hours, forgetting his weari- 
ness and weakness in first grasping treason by the throat, and 



DECORATION DAY. 



91 



then turning from the sacrifice and counseling such frank ac- 
knowledgment as could not fail to reach the magnanimity of the 
authorities so deeply offended — such was the loved, not fault- 
less, sage of "Homewood" during the fortnight that transpired 
before the "golden bowl was broken," or the flowers of his own 
choice placed upon his bier. 

" Stronger by weakness, wiser men become, 
As they draw near to their eternal home ; 
Leaving the old, both worlds at once they view, 
They stand upon the threshold of the new." 

[May 28, 1871.] 



XXI. 

Called to Washington on official business, I find myself this 
warm and breezy morning of the 30th of May seated at the 
open window of my old room in the Mills House, once more 
looking over into the sacred grounds of Arlington, where twen- 
ty thousand Union soldiers sleep their last sleep, and silently 
yet sternly sentinel the Capitol they saved. And this is Deco- 
ration day ! The Departments are closed in honor of the dead 
heroes. From Maine to Mexico, wherever the grave of a 
Union soldier is found, it will be visited by some Union man 
or woman. 

"Such graves as these are pilgrim shrines, 
Shrines to no code or creed confined ; 
The Delphian vales, the Palestines — 
The Meccas of the mind." 

The fervor with which Decoration day is venerated proves 
the undying love of our people for their country. The senti- 
ment is a conviction that grows with every hour, and ripens 
only to be renewed in freshness and vigor. Decoration day is. 



92 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

therefore, another Independence day ; precisely as the abolition 
of human slavery in 1863 gave force to the abolition of British 
surveillance in 1776. But it was more than this. It was the 
intellectual disenthralment of four millions of blacks and thir- 
ty millions of whites. It revolutionized the wicked work of 
ages of misrule. It wrought in less than nine years the destruc- 
tion of the evils of almost as many centuries. 

Where were we all on the 30th of May, 1861 ? As I ask the 
question, Robert E. Lee's Arlington house shines out white 
from the dark green foliage of the southern side of the Poto- 
mac, and seems to answer : " Ten years ago this day my owner 
had just tendered an unstained sword, with a troubled heart, to 
his country's foe. Ten years ago Abraham Lincoln, Stephen 
A. Douglas, Stonewall Jackson, James Buchanan, Edward D. 
Baker, Howell Cobb, John B. Floyd, Lewis Cass, Owen Love- 
joy, were living ; they have since gone before the Great Judge, 
and have answered for all their mortal deeds. Ten years ago 
the thousands of slain around me, and 'three hundred thou- 
sand more,' were active and intelligent men, useful fathers, hus- 
bands, sons, and brothers. But these dead have left behind 
lessons and warnings that will not die." 

" Ah ! gentlemen," said Frederick Douglass, the really great 
leader of the colored race of America, yesterday afternoon, 
" who shall tell the story of these last ten years ? I can not. 
To me all is changed ; and what an unutterable, indescribable 
change ! From slavery to liberty, from ostracism to equality, 
from ignorance to self-respect, from sin to schools, from the 
lash to the light, from the bludgeon to the ballot, from a coun- 
try bound in chains to a nation robed in glory, from a capital 
that seemed to be rooted in despotism to a great city, free and 
wholesome and beneficent. Find your orator to tell us of these 
marvels. I have no speech to describe, though my heart cher- 
ishes them all." 

"Blessed be this night," said another of the same race on an- 



DECORATION DAY. 93 

Other occasion, "Five times have I been sold into slavery 
in Washington — three times on the block, and twice with the 
ball and chain on my feet j and now I am free, and all my chil- 
dren, and their -children's children." 

And what could John M. Langston, the law professor of the 
Howard University, say? The son of a gentleman of Virginia 
by his own slave, he lives to represent the intellect of his father 
as his accepted offspring, and to honor and bless his mother. 

But on this sacred day other memories are revived. I recall 
as I write the face, the form, the character, and history of James 
S. Jackson, of Kentucky, who sleeps with the blessed Union 
martyrs. The readers of these hasty anecdotes will perhaps 
recollect my reference to him on the night of my Mazeppa 
speech on Missouri Avenue, after I had been elected Clerk of 
the House of Representatives in December of 1859. Jackson 
was afterward a Whig Representative in the Thirty-seventh Con- 
gress from Kentucky, and when elected was about forty. He 
was chosen as a pro-slavery man, with intense attachment to 
Henry Clay, John J. Crittenden, and the old leaders of that 
school of politics, but also with intense attachment to the 
Union. I never met him until I met him as a Representative 
in the great Congress preceding the rebellion. His genial nat- 
ure, his extremely handsome face and athletic form, his elo- 
quence of speech and magnetism of manner, attracted me ; and 
yet, although somewhat differing in politics — he as the ideal of 
the old Whig Party in its best days, and I as the ideal of the 
better days of the Democracy — we coalesced in ardent devo- 
tion to the Union. He was against me for Clerk, yet he was 
glad I was elected — not because he cared for me, but because 
he desired to rebuke the administration of Mr. Buchanan, whose 
course on the Kansas Question he did not hesitate to denounce 
as unutterably bad. 

On this Decoration day, as I look out upon Arlington 
Heights and hear the guns thundering over the graves of those 



94 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

who perished that their country might live, I think of handsome 
Jackson, and of an incident related to me by one of his devoted 
Kentucky friends, now holding a high and honorable position 
under General Grant's administration. Jackson left his seat in 
the House to offer his life to the Republic. In doing this he 
felt that he was separating from many near and dear friends 
in Kentucky, all of whom, equally devoted to the Union, were 
also devoted to slavery. He had served several months in the 
war when slavery was abolished in the District of Columbia. 
His old associates, believing they could swerve him from his 
fidelity to his country, conceived that emancipation would great- 
ly disappoint him, and one of their number wrote him a letter, 
stating now that the Yankees had shown that this was simply 
an abolition war, he ought to leave the " Federal " army and 
come over to his old friends, in which case a better position 
awaited him. This letter, owing to circumstances unnecessary 
to relate here, fell into the hands of his brave wife, a Kentucky 
woman. She was so indignant at the attempt to debauch her 
husband that she tore it up, but immediately after, believing 
that he had better see it, womanlike, gathered the fragments 
and sent the missive forward to her husband. He received it 
in the company of friends, laughed heartily at it, and referred 
to the Confederate who had written it as a capital good fel- 
low, but as one who had wholly misunderstood his character. 
Among those who heard of the letter was the well-known Brig- 
adier-General William Nelson, subsequently killed by General 
Jefferson C. Davis in a personal rencontre at the Gait House, 
in Louisville, on the 29th of September, 1862. Nelson remark- 
ed, after the letter to Jackson had been read, that the writer 
seemed to know his man or he never would have written it. 
This observation was reported to Jackson by some convenient 
friend, who belonged to the order of men who always report 
unpleasant remarks, and resulted in a challenge from Jackson 
to Nelson. Nothing prevented a mortal meeting but the inter- 



JAMES S. JACKSON. 95 

vention of the venerable John J. Crittenden, the friend of both, 
who came from Louisville to the camp and stepped between the 
young Hotspurs. But they never spoke until after one of the 
subsequent battles, in which Nelson displayed almost superhu- 
man bravery. Jackson's cavalry regiment could not be called 
into the fight, and he lay chafing at a distance from the field. 
But when he came into camp and found that praise of his ad- 
versary was in the mouth of every soldier, he rushed up to him, 
and threw his arms around his neck, and said : " I never can be 
the enemy of a man who has fought so bravely for the old flag." 
They both died in 1862 — Jackson at the head of his regiment 
in the battle of Perryville, Kentucky, and Nelson, as I have 
said, by the hands of Jefferson C. Davis, a brave and noble sol- 
dier, now .in New York, whom Nelson had grossly insulted. 
Jackson and Nelson were both men of strong convictions ; they 
were men of storm and tempest, but of noble hearts ; they 
loved Clay, Crittenden, Breckinridge, Preston, and Prentice of 
the Louisville yoiinial. To go into the Union cause against 
all their social prejudices and friends was a great struggle, but 
go they did. They died young, but they had lived a long ex- 
perience. Nelson was a commander in the navy, and died a 
brevet major-general in the army. Jackson had just got into 
Congress when the war broke out, and died before he finished 
his Congressional career. 

[June 4, 1871.] 



XXII. 

Looking back along more than half a century of the varied, 
brilliant, and useful works of Adolphe Thiers, the present virtual 
head of the French government, who is now seventy-four years 
old, the thought occurred to me what an interesting chapter 



96 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

could be written of other venerable men still living. Brougham 
lived to his ninetieth, and Palmerston survived to his eighty- 
first year. Earl Russell is eighty. Lyndhurst died in his nine- 
ty-first year. The French historian and publicist, Guizot, is 
eighty-four. The civic and martial chieftains of Germany, who 
figured most prominently in the late terrific campaign, are many 
of them very old. 

Philadelphia has an unusual share of remarkable men still 
living between seventy and eighty, and a number even beyond 
that great age. The posterity of the well-known merchant, 
Daniel Smith, presents a record rarely paralleled. The mother 
died in 1799, leaving seven children, five of whom are now liv- 
ing. The oldest brother, James S., died in 1861, in his eighty- 
first year. Francis Gurney Smith is still living, in his eighty- 
eighth year ; also Richard S. Smith, president of the Union 
Mutual Insurance Company, who will be eighty-two in August ; 
Daniel Smith, Jr., was eighty last February ; William S. Smith 
is seventy-nine ; and Charles S. Smith, seventy-two in April. 
Mrs. Poulson, the sister, died last year, aged seventy-six. The 
six brothers have lived over fifty years each with their wives. 
They have lived blameless, useful, and honorable careers as 
merchants and as leaders in great public works. What is most 
delightful of all is that the wives of four of these gentlemen sur- 
vive at nearly the same age as themselves. They have all cel- 
ebrated their "golden weddings." It is not often that a single 
family can present such longevity and such unstained and even 
distinguished reputations. Like their ancestors, they are true- 
hearted Philadelphians ; and he who would gather some of the 
most interesting memoirs of the city founded by William Penn, 
could do nothing better than to interview the eldest of these 
five brothers at his residence on Pine Street, Philadelphia. I 
have several times referred to Horace Binney, in his ninety-first 
year — in his day among the ripest and ablest lawyers in the 
world. General Robert Patterson is the evergreen of his time 



THOMAS SULLY. 



97 



—Still vigorous in his eightieth year. Prominent on every 
great occasion, ready of speech and wit, hospitable in his own 
home, patriotic and public-spirited, one of the most active cot- 
ton merchants in Philadelphia, rising with the lark, working at 
his counting-house without eating a morsel until his dinner 
at five in the afternoon, frequently closing the day as the most 
active and genial guest at a social gathering ; he is a rara avis. 
William D. Lewis, former Collector of the Port, also in his 
eightieth year, is one of the same school, preserving in his old 
age a youthful and generous heart and an undaunted spirit. 
He will tell you of St. Petersburg nearly sixty years ago, which 
he visited as a youth, regale you with incidents of Philadelphia 
in the olden time, and fill your memory with anecdotes of the 
good and great men whose confidence he shared. 

Few persons know that Thomas Sully, the eminent portrait- 
painter, is yet among us, on the eve of his eighty-eighth year. 
The visitor to his studio is impressed by the remarkable bright- 
ness and activity of the venerable man, who is still inspired 
with the true fire of his art. 

He was born in England. Originally the family came from 
France. His father's name was Matthew Sully. His mother 
was English, and came first from England to Norfolk, Virginia, 
in 1794. Mr. Sully took his first lessons in Charleston, from a 
coach-painter. He began as a miniature-painter when only 
seven years old. From Charleston he came to Philadelphia, 
then to New York, by advice of Cooper, the actor, then back 
to Philadelphia about 1810, where he has ever since remained. 
He twice visited England, once in 1837, to paint Queen Victo- 
ria. He also took lessons at different times of West, Lawrence, 
and Stuart, the last named not even surpassed in certain quali- 
ties by Vandyke. 

Mr. Sully is a musician of considerable proficiency. He 
played the flute in the orchestra of the Musical Fund Society 
for many years, and he is now its vice-president His charac- 

E 



98 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

teristics, as a painter, are grace, delicacy, fancy, ideality, purity. 
He is still painting — often without glasses. Many of the great 
men of his day have sat to him. Lafayette, Jefferson, Jackson, 
Adams, Monroe, Rush, Binney, Cooke, Cooper, Kemble — in- 
deed, among his sitters will be found the distinguished of the 
bar, the pulpit, the stage, medicine, etc. No collection is com- 
plete without one or two of his works. The parlors of Colonel 
Fitzgerald, of Philadelphia, are filled with the choice works of 
this master. 

But none of the men of seventy-eight are so interesting in 
character as Henry C. Carey, the memory of whose father, Mat- 
thew Carey, is recalled with affectionate reverence, and whose 
son may well be styled the worthy son of a worthy sire. Liv- 
ing in elegant ease on Walnut Street, near Eleventh, Philadel- 
phia, surrounded by his books and his pictures, honored and 
loved by troops of friends, kind, generous, and social, busy with 
his pen, and always ready to converse with the intelligent of all 
parties, Henry C. Carey may be said to have outlived enmity 
and envy. His life is in fact the very best vindication of his 
favorite theories, especially in regard to the protection of Amer- 
ican industry. Upon this doctrine, so elaborately and for so 
long a period enforced in this country, he may confidently rest 
his fame. It has triumphed not only here but elsewhere. Rid- 
ing the other day with our young railroad monarch, Colonel 
Thomas A. Scott, between New York and Philadelphia, I list- 
ened with pleasure to his tribute to Mr. Carey, and especially 
to his statement that a distinguished gentleman recently return- 
ed from Germany had told him that the works of Mr. Carey on 
political economy, translated into German, were scattered 
through the whole nation, and were standard books among 
statesmen and text-books among the people. They have also 
been converted into the languages of other countries, so that 
the days of successful ridicule of his doctrines may be said to 
have passed away forever. 



THOMAS A. SCOTT. 99 

Mr. Carey's pleasant Sunday "vespers" at his own home 
have been described by others. Here he loves to meet his 
friends in the confidence of innocent social intercourse. Here, 
regularly, for years past, winter and summer, have assembled 
some of the ablest intellects of the nation — men of different and 
differing tastes meeting on the same level — the level of tolera- 
tion and freedom of discussion, and unity in love of country. 
Long may these aged men survive — ornaments of society and 
examples of integrity and patriotism. 

jjune II, 1871.] 



xxni. 

I HAVE already told you something about the old men of Phila- 
delphia. Now let me write familiarly and frankly of a younger 
citizen — one who is, perhaps, as generally discussed as any liv- 
ing person. There is a mystery about him w^hich is rather in- 
creased by the fact that he is a quiet, though incessant worker 
— not often seen, yet as ubiquitous as if he possessed the power 
of repeating himself indefinitely. I mean Thomas Alexander 
Scott, vice-president of the Pennsylvania Central Railroad, or, 
as he is every where called, by high and low, from the Presi- 
dent to the proletaire — "Tom Scott." Filling a large space in 
large enterprises, wielding immense resources, combining ex- 
traordinary elements, and dealing literally with empires, Col- 
onel Scott is still comparatively young, and qualified, with or- 
dinary care over his reserved forces, physical and mental, for a 
long and most distinguished life. His experience is another 
illustration of the elasticity of our institutions ; another proof 
that when the offspring of the wealthy, spoiled and enervated 
by over-indulgence, fail to grapple with grave duties and respon- 
sibilities, we can always find fitter material in the humbler 



lOO ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

walks, and recruit the energies of the nation from the sons of 
those who have been hardened in the stern school of necessity 
and toil. 

Thomas Alexander Scott was born in the village of Loudon, 
Franklin County, Pennsylvania, on the 28th of December, 1824, 
and on his next birthday will be forty-seven years old. He be- 
gan as a boy in a country-store at a very low salary, after hav- 
ing completed his education in the one village school, with the 
one teacher, Robert Kirby, of Loudon ; and upon the death of 
his father, in 1834, went to live with his eldest sister, whose 
husband kept a country-store near Waynesborough, in Frank- 
lin County, where he remained eighteen months ; then he lived 
a short time with his brother, James D. Scott, also a merchant, 
at Bridgeport, in the same county; then with Metcalf & Ritchie, 
merchants in Mercersburg. In all these situations he exhibited 
the same energy, and had the confidence and respect of em- 
ployers and associates for the ability and correctness now so 
universally awarded to the man. In all his past history his 
frank, honest, candid, clear, and prompt manner in business 
transactions has deservedly secured him the confidence and re- 
spect of the business world — above all, his goodness of heart, 
the measure of his favors and charities being the necessities of 
the friends. My first recollection of him was in Lancaster 
County, where he was a clerk of Major James Patton, his broth- 
er-in-law, who was collector of tolls at Columbia, on the State 
road, under the administration of Governor Porter, I think, in 
the year 1838. From this he was transferred to the extensive 
warehouse and commission establishment of the Leeches, at 
Columbia, where he remained until 1847, when became to Phil- 
adelphia as chief clerk at Seventh and Willow Streets, on the 
Schuylkill front, under A. Boyd Cummings, collector of tolls at 
the eastern end of the Public Works. In 1850 he entered the 
service of the great Pennsylvania Central at Duncanville, as 
their general agent of the Mountain or Eastern division. On 



A RAILWAY POTENTATE. lOi 

the opening of the Western division he was put in charge of 
that, and there he remained till he was called to take control 
of the entire line, in consequence of the ill-health of General 
H. J. Lombaert, the superintendent. In 1859, on the death of 
Hon. William B. Foster, vice-president of the road, he was elect- 
ed to that position, which he continues to fill. 

There is no romance in this career, and yet how few now liv- 
ing excite so much curiosity and attract so much attention as 
Thomas Alexander Scott ! His rapidity and courage alike as 
an administrative and executive officer have given him a pres- 
tige known wherever a railroad is operated. It was these qual- 
ities that induced the Administration to call him into the gov- 
ernment service as Assistant Secretary of War after the out- 
break of the rebellion; and those of us who studied him then 
can well understand how thoroughly he deserves his present 
high reputation. He was summoned to Washington early in 

1 86 1, at a period when the whole North was panic-stricken 

when the capital was cut off by the rebels lying between it and 
the Susquehanna. A man of railroad genius, tact, and expe- 
rience was imperatively needed. Governor Curtin wanted him 
to remain in Pennsylvania, but Mr. Lincoln, the Secretary of 
War, and General Scott insisted that the young vice-president 
of the Pennsylvania Central should be forthcoming, and he 
came, and effectually aided General Butler, then at Annapolis 
with his Massachusetts men, to build the road which opened 
the way and restored the line of communication, and so saved 
AVashington from capture. He remained at his desk in the 
War Department, unless when called off to superintend the vast 
military transportation of the army at other points, until the 
crisis was over, and then returned to his post at Philadelphia, 
surrounded with the confidence and gratitude of every branch 
of the government, executive and legislative. His cheerful and 
buoyant temper, his bright face, genial, gentle manners, and, 
above all, the readiness with which he answered every request, 



102 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

and the grace with which he would say No, as he had frequent- 
ly to do, proved that official labors came easy and natural to 
him, and that the cares so sure to break down an ordinary man 
bore lightly upon him. It was pleasant to note how quietly he 
met the leaders of armies and the leaders of the Senate, and 
how in every circle, no matter what the theme, he was uncon- 
strained and self-poised. Perhaps one of the secrets of his 
popularity was his avoidance of all political discussions. In- 
tensely attached to his country. Colonel Scott is claimed by no 
party, and has as many friends in one as in the other. His 
early training was among Democrats, though many of his near- 
est connections were Old-line Whigs, and are Republicans. 
As the real head of an enterprise which is gradually assuming 
more than international proportions, and must depend for its 
success upon the support of the whole people, he has little time 
to play at the petty party politics of the hour. He possesses 
two inborn gifts, uncommon to one who has not seen the inside 
of a school-house since his eleventh year — intuitive mathemat- 
ical perception and singular ability in preparing legislation. 
He dispatches business with electric facility. He dictates to 
his short-hand reporter as rapidly as an expert, and when he 
rises to speak in any of the business conventions, his sugges- 
tions are so many flashes of intellect, and his sentences short, 
terse, and clear. He is happy in the capacity of getting rid of 
difficult questions in a moment. One subject dropped he seizes 
the other at the proper time, and is as punctual to a promise, 
an engagement, or a contract, as he is faithful to a friend. 

Some time ago, in one of the managers' cars of the Pennsyl- 
vania Central, I sat by, a surprised and amused observer. At 
every station dispatches would be brought to him, which he 
tore open and promptly answered, and then resumed the thread 
of the conversation. Sometimes a railroad president or official, 
belonging to another State, would come in at the door while 
the train waited, state his case, and receive his reply. Some- 



DECISION. 103 

times a negotiation would be conducted between the stations, 
and yet, at the end of every such passage, he would move over 
to me, where I sat, and renew his pleasant and instructive talk. 

Such are some of the leading traits of Thomas Alexander 
Scott, or " Aleck," as he used to be called while transacting 
business for his friend, Metcalf, in Franklin County. It is prop- 
er to add that no man has ever been more endeared to his as- 
sociates in business. I wish I could refer to instances of his 
generosity to his family and to his friends, but this is a subject 
upon which he is a little sensitive, and yet he never seems to 
tire in doing good — never forgets the intimates of his early 
career, the men who served with him when he was a clerk, 
agent, or superintendent. Although overwhelmed with engage- 
ments, he never allows a case of suffering or misfortune to pass 
him unheeded. It deserves to be said that in his capacity as 
the active head of a gigantic corporation, he has never gambled 
with its great interests at the stock exchange, never corrupted 
judges or juries, never turned what belonged to others to self- 
ish or mercenary ends ; and it is undoubtedly to his exact, ac- 
curate, and inflexible business principles that the sound and 
permanent prosperity of the Pennsylvania Central is chiefly in- 
debted. 

I conclude this hasty sketch of my old friend by relating an 
incident of his promptitude. Some years ago, when his pres- 
ence was necessary at an extraordinary crisis in the affairs of 
the company, he started from Pittsburgh on an express train, 
and found himself, after some hours' travel, obstructed by an- 
other train, which had run off the track. The debris, the frag- 
ments, and confusion produced by the accident would have re- 
quired at least a day for their removal. The engineers were in 
despair. After a moment's reflection the Colonel directed that 
the whole of the wreck should be burned, and the torch was ap- 
plied to the valuable machinery, cars, and goods that lay scat- 
tered around. Of course he made his destination; but when he 



104 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

reached the company and told his story, there was some indig- 
nation at v/hat they regarded a waste of property. Colonel 
Scott sat down and soon convinced them, by a calculation esti- 
mating the loss that would accrue by the delay of trains, etc., 
that he had really saved a considerable sum by the transaction. 
The brain-work of^ man like Colonel Scott is immense, but 
he enjoys the rare facility of dismissing troublesome questions 
from his mind. He never takes his sorrows with him to bed. 
When his day's work is done he retires with a sunny face to his 
home, enjoys the society of his family, plays croquet or whist, 
rides around the park, looks in at the opera, and now and then 
mingles with a company of his friends. Of simple habits and 
refined tastes, he ought to live a long life. That he may so live 
is my sincere and earnest prayer. 

[June i8, 1871.] 



XXIV. 

A FASCINATING volume might be written of the men who were 
identified with Government newspapers in Washington under 
the old regime^ beginning with Joseph Gales and William Win- 
ston Seaton, and running on to Duff Green, Amos Kendall, Fran- 
cis P. Blair, John C. Rives, Thomas Ritchie, Robert Armstrong, 
A. O. P. Nicholson, Roger A. Pryor, Charles Eames, Wm. M. 
Overton, George S. Gideon, Simeon M. Johnson, William M. 
Browne, George W. Bowman, Alexander C. Bullet, and others. 
Of this long list those who survive are Duff Green, now at a 
very advanced age ; Francis P. Blair, the generous host at Sil- 
ver Spring, Maryland, near Washington ; A. O. P. Nicholson, 
residing at Columbia, Tennessee ; George S. Gideon and Sim- 
eon M. Johnson, of Washington ; Roger A. Pryor, practicing 
law in New York ; George W. Bowman, Pennsylvania, and Will- 



JOURNALISM IN WASHINGTON. 105 

iam M. Browne, who was in the South when last heard from. 
All the papers with which they were connected have passed out 
of existence excepting The Globe, now the almost exclusive rec- 
ord of Congressional debates, published by F. & J. Rives and 
George A. Bailey, to whom it is a source of enormous revenue. 
In former times what was called the national organ was liber- 
ally sustained by the advertising and the printing of the Gov- 
ernment, and the proprietors, who ought to have grown rich, 
were most generous in the treatment of their editors. It is a 
grave question whether there has been any actual saving by di- 
vorcing the public printing from the press. Certain it is that 
ever since newspapers at Washington have had to depend upon 
their own energies they have had a hard struggle. Several at- 
tempts have been made to build upon the great profits of The 
Co?igressio7ial Globe a permanent organ, representing the polit- 
ical party in the possession of the Government for the time be- 
ing, but they have failed in succession ; yet I do not doubt that 
if ever the Democracy get control of the Government they will 
accomplish precisely what the Republicans have not had the 
courage or strength to carry through. No class of men do 
harder work for less pay than the political writers at Washing- 
ton, and none, if properly sustained, can exert a wider or better 
influence. Proprietors of newspapers at the national capital 
must now spend vast sums of money for editorial assistance, 
news, correspondence, etc., yet their incomes are comparatively 
small. They have no large population around them, and as 
yet no active, progressive States south of them. If the old sys- 
tem were resumed, or another adopted by which, under proper 
regulations, the profits of the public printing could be secured 
to the organ of the party in the majority, I have not the slight- 
est doubt the treasury would be the gainer in the end. Abun- 
dant experience has shown, at least in this country, that when- 
ever Government undertakes to carry on business which be- 
longs to individuals, it does so at a dead loss. 

E 2 



Io6 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

When James K. Polk was elected President, in 1844, he re- 
solved, under the advice of the Southern politicians, to super- 
sede the old Jackson and Van Buren firm of Blair & Rives, and 
to invite the veteran Thomas Ritchie, for many years the editor 
of the ancient Virginia organ, the Richmond Enquirer, to assume 
the responsibility of defending the measures of his Administra- 
tion. There can be no doubt that the anti-slavery inclining of 
Mr. Blair was the motive for this change. Martin Van Buren 
had twice offended the Southern Democracy — once when in his 
inaugural, in 1837, he declared in favor of the constitutionality 
of the abolition of slavery in the District x)f Columbia, and again 
when he pronounced against the annexation of Texas in 1843. 
Renominated in 1840, and defeated by General Harrison, his 
name was again presented as a candidate in 1844 ; but his Texas 
letter raised a host of enemies against him in the National Con- 
vention of that year, who, after a long and harassing contest, 
united upon James K. Polk — the Blairs, the Riveses, the Ben- 
tons, the Tappans, the Aliens, the Hoffmans, and the Silas 
Wrights all ranged on the side of the New York statesman. 
The new Tennessee President felt that his Administration 
would not be heartily supported by men who had sympathized 
with Van Buren in regard to the abolition of slavery in the Dis- 
trict of Columbia and in opposition to the annexation of Texas, 
and hence he called for the services of Father Ritchie. The 
wound inflicted by this change of national editors was deep and 
rankled long. It undoubtedly created the Free-Soil party ; it 
soured Thomas H. Benton ; it organized a fierce internal oppo- 
sition to General Cass when he was the Democratic candidate 
against General Taylor in 1848 ; it vitalized the able and vin- 
dictive pens of Mr. Blair and his associates ; it put Prince John 
Van Buren on the stump as the advocate of his own father, who 
ran as the third candidate on the Buffalo platform. It did 
much to inspire David Wilmot to offer the Wilmot Proviso in 
1846. It was one of the early elements which gradually and 



THOMAS RITCHIE. I07 

surely prepared the way for the political uprising of 1854, on 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise — a convulsion which 
would have become universal had not James Buchanan in 1856 
promised that the people of Kansas should be permitted to 
vote on the subject of slavery without interruption or violence — 
a promise which, broken in his term, was avenged by the polit- 
ical revolution of 1858, which destroyed the Democratic party 
effectually, gave victory to the Republicans, carried Lincoln 
into the Presidential chair, and so maddened the South as to 
drive it into that rebellion, the defeat of which ended in the 
complete and eternal abolition of human slavery. So it will be 
seen that so trifling a thing as a change in the editor of a polit- 
ical organ originated a movement that culminated in the most 
remarkable event of the century. 

Thomas Ritchie, the successor of the Blairs, though he 
changed the name of the national Democratic organ from The 
Globe to The U7iio7i^ was, nevertheless, the unconscious harbin- 
ger of disunion. A more amiable, simple-minded, honorable 
gentleman, never existed ; but he had lived too long in a nar- 
row sphere to figure on the national stage. He was a consci- 
entious believer in the extreme doctrine of State rights — the 
kindest and most genteel old fogy who ever wore nankeen pan- 
taloons, high shirt-collars, and broad-brimmed straw hats. He 
was the delight of every social circle, not for his wit, which was 
dull, but for his chronic Virginia peculiarities. He was the 
Grandfather Whitehead of the politicians ; the Jesse Rural of 
the diplomats — his eflbrts at making peace between contending 
rivals generally ending in the renewal of strife, and his para- 
graphs in defense of the Administration awakening new storms 
of ridicule. He was a firm believer in the now happily exploded 
habit that nothing better became an editor than to be at war 
with his contemporary; and thus it was that The Utimi was filled 
with contradictions of accusations against the Administration, 
many of which had been invented by the practical jokers on 



Io8 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the Other side. Among these practical jokers, none was more 
busy than the German Austrian, Francis J. Grund, for a long 
time the " Observer " of the Fhiladelphia Ledger^ and the " X " 
of the Baitifnore Sim. A versatile genius, of enormous energy 
and inexhaustible resources — a linguist, an orator, a conversa- 
tionalist, a writer with few rivals in his day and time — he was 
a knight of the Free Lance, mingling with all parties (to nearly 
all of which he had belonged and abandoned in turn), he was 
the terror of public men. Welcomed in every circle, especially 
among the diplomatists, where his large fund of information in 
regard to foreign politics gave him the eiitrk^ and where he 
gathered stores of intelligence for the newspapers whose corre- 
spondent he was, he seemed to sport with questions that troubled 
others. Nothing gave him so much delight as to worry Father 
Ritchie, and nothing worried Father Ritchie more than Mr. 
Grund ; and I am sure it can be no irreverence to the memory 
of the excellent old man to add that nothing excited more mer- 
riment in official coteries than the skill with which the accom- 
plished German tantalized and taunted the high-strung Virgin- 
ian. For Mr. Ritchie, like many other men, could not realize 
such a thing as a practical joke. Every thing was serious to 
him ; and it was amusing to note how the most trifling allusion 
to the President and his Cabinet would quicken his facile pen, 
and how he would pour his almost unintelligible manuscript into 
the hands of the printer. He wrote much — not always clearly, 
but always honestly ; and when he left the tripod to which he had 
been tempted by large promises, he was neither as comfortable 
nor as rich a man as when he broke up his household at Rich- 
mond to share the gay society and the heavy burdens of Wash- 
ington journalism. He was too old when he exchanged places. 
He was never, though often called, the flatterer of power. His 
instincts were so pure, his relations to men so honest, that he 
could not discriminate in the support he gave to the Adminis- 
tration. He beheved so utterly in the unselfishness of others 



A STORMY SESSION. 



109 



that he could not understand that his support of them might be 
characterized as sycophancy. He reached Washington when 
Gales & Seaton, of the Naiio?ial Intelligencer^ began their de- 
cline, and, if I understand aright, he sustained the kindliest 
relations to them. In more than one respect he has not been 
so fortunate as the illustrious twain, who, like himself, have now 
gone forth to learn the great secret. He had not a gentle and 
graceful annalist like William Winston Seaton, whose lately 
printed biography, from the genial pen of one of his own house- 
hold, may happily be classed, not simply among the best pro- 
ductions of modern literature, but among the most precious 
tributes with which gratitude has crowned the well-earned fame 
of one who was alike father, counselor, and friend. 

[June 25, 1871.] 



XXV. 

It was fifteen years last December since the meeting of the 
first session of the Thirty-fourth Congress. Its business was 
delayed from the 2d of December, 1855, to the 3d of February, 
1856, by the failure of the House to elect a Speaker. The re- 
vulsion produced by the repeal of the Missouri Compromise in 
the previous year, increased by the Know-Nothing frenzy, gave 
the opposition large accessions, and made it exceedingly doubt- 
ful who would control the House. The Democrats had enjoyed 
a long and almost unbroken reign, and this uprising was the 
first signal of its close. As Clerk of the popular branch of the 
previous Congress, it was my lot to act as presiding officer dur- 
ing the protracted contest. My position was most peculiar. 
I had had no experience in Parliamentary tactics — indeed, there 
were no rules for the discipline of that tumultuous body — and 
I could only rely on common-sense as my guide. I was one 



no ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

of the editors of the Washingtofi Uniofi, the organ of President 
Pierce, and the active advocate of James Buchanan, then Amer- 
ican Minister at the British court, for the Presidential succes- 
sion, and I was the personal friend of Andrew H. Reeder, who 
had just been removed from the governorship of Kansas for 
refusing to join the conspiracy to force slavery into that Terri- 
tory. Our relations had not changed, and I had earnestly, but 
vainly, protested against his sacrifice. He was on the floor 
contesting the seat of J. W. Whitfield, who had secured the cer- 
tificate of delegate from Kansas. The struggle for the Presi- 
dency was at fever heat. All the candidates had friends among 
the members, and the canvassing between them was incessant. 
The South was wrought to the highest pitch of excitement. 
The bold attitude of the Free-State men in Congress and the 
country, the extraordinary proceedings in Kansas, the close- 
ness of parties in the House, added to the other perplexities of 
my position. The opposition looked upon me at first with a 
very natural distrust, and the Democrats relied upon me to 
exert every influence to forward their designs. Nor was this 
perplexity lessened by the fact that my political associates were 
generally in the wrong. Their hatred of my friend Reeder was 
terrible. He was charged with every possible corruption, and 
I soon found that my unconcealed confidence in him made me 
an object of general distrust among the Southern leaders. 
Cobb and Stephens, of Georgia ; Garnett and Edmundson, of 
Virginia ; Rust, of Arkansas ; Alexander K. Marshall and Bur- 
nett, of Kentucky ; Barksdale, of Mississippi ; Keitt and Brooks, 
of South Carolina, backed by Slidell, Toombs, Iverson, J. M. 
Mason, Hammond, Butler, Wigfall, Benjamin, Yulee, and C. C. 
Clay, in the Senate, with Jefferson Davis in the Cabinet, all felt 
that if the House was lost all was imperiled. Every day the 
same scene was enacted. Interminable ballotings, points of 
order, debates, threats of violence upon the Northern members, 
consumed two months of the public time, and at last resulted 



ELECTION OF SPEAKER. Ill 

in the election of Nathaniel P. Banks, Speaker, by a vote of 
one hundred and three to one hundred for Aiken, of South 
Carolina. The opposition soon saw that I was resolved to act 
honestly at every hazard, and at this distance from that embit- 
tered session I can recall no one decision that I would not repeat 
under similar circumstances. Never shall I forget the last act 
of the drama — the fierce assaults of the fire-eaters upon my rul- 
ings, nor yet the ample and unanimous vindication of my course 
as I retired from a trying and thankless position. These re- 
vengeful men recollected all these things when Buchanan was 
nominated, and demanded and secured from him a secret 
pledge, before his election, that, in the event of his being chosen 
President, I should never be called to Washington in any ca- 
pacity. They declared I was unsound on " the peculiar insti- 
tution," and could not be trusted even in the only post to which 
I ever aspired, that of editor of the national organ, authorized 
to enforce Buchanan's solemn covenant of justice to the people 
of Kansas. He gave this secret assurance reluctantly, and of 
course without my knowledge ; and he kept it faithfully. " There 
is a destiny that shapes our ends," and that which I believed at 
the time an act of unspeakable perfidy, proved to be a blessing 
to me and mine. It threw me upon my own resources, made 
me an independent journalist, and enabled me to convince my 
fellow-citizens that I could live without party patronage. 

Of the extreme men in that stormy interval, Cobb, Keitt, 
Brooks, Barksdale, Garnett, Soule, Burnett, Butler, James M. 
Mason, have gone to their long account. Slidell, Benjamin, 
and Wigfall are still, I believe, in foreign lands. Toombs, Da- 
vis, and Stephens, having failed in one great act of treason, are 
busily engaged in the work of destroying the Democratic party, 
an enterprise in which they promise to be more successful. 

[July 2, 1871.] 



112 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



XXVI. 



The short career of Felix Grundy McConnell, of Alabama, 
who died by his own hand in Washington, D.C., in September, 
1846, in his thirty-seventh year, was in some respects a memor- 
able one. He was a singularly handsome man, and possessed 
abundant animal spirits and a native wit that made him popular 
with all parties. His speeches were not numerous, but were 
original and forcible. He was elected to two Congresses, but 
had not served out his full term when he died. When James 
K.Polk was inaugurated President, on the 4th of March, 1845, 
one of his first visitors was McConnell, and I shall never forget 
the way he introduced himself: "I have called to pay you my 
respects, Mr. President, and to say that if you believe in the 
Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, love the Union, and follow 
in the footsteps of Captain Andrew Jackson, of Tennessee, now 
at the Hermitage preparing to go to Heaven, then, sir, I hang my 
hammer on your anvil." Though too careless of himself, he 
had many sterling traits. Once, in a bar-room of the National 
Hotel, he heard an infidel blaspheming the Bible. " Stop, sir," 
said the angry Felix — " stop ! I am not a good man, but my 
mother used to read the Bible to me, and prayed that I might 
always believe in it ; and d — n me if I will ever allow any body 
to attack it in my presence ! It must be all right, for it was 
her guide and comfort." 

Of another type was Dixon H.Lewis, Representative in Con- 
gress from the same State from 1829 to 1843, and United States 
Senator from 1844 to October of 1848, when he died in New 
York. He was the largest man I ever saw. A chair for his 
especial use had to be made, and few public conveyances could 
accommodate him. He was a man of first-rate talents, a forcible 
speaker, a sound lawyer, and a close reasoner. Mr. Calhoun 
had no more devoted follower or friend. He was a sincere be- 



MIKE WALSH. 113 

liever in the whole theory of State rights and secession. Ami- 
able, and generous to a fault, he was sensitive in regard to his 
enormous size, which undoubtedly shortened his life. He died 
ao-ed forty-six, having been in Congress a continuous term of 
nineteen years. Once, on his return from Washington, the 
steamer in which he was a passenger was wrecked. The small 
boat was ordered out, but he refused to enter it, fearing that his 
huge weight would jeopard the safety of others. After they 
were saved he was rescued, but for a time he was in great 
danger. . 

Not unlike McConnell was Mike Walsh, of New York. Born 
in Youghall, Ireland, and brought to this country when a child, 
he spent his boyhood as a wanderer. His newspaper. The 
Siibterra?iean, printed in New York, was the terror of the poli- 
ticians, and finally cost him an imprisonment of two years for 
libel, but this punishment increased his popularity, and he was 
sent to the Legislature, and for two years to Congress. I was 
Clerk while he was a member, and found him full of good im- 
pulses. He was a satirist by nature. Nothing provoked him 
so much as a snob. He spared no pretender. He was es- 
pecially severe upon the airs of the chivalry of the South, and. 
Democrat as he was, he had no patience with them. He never 
rose to speak without saying something new or odd. He read 
much and wrote strongly. He disliked Buchanan and loved 
Douglas. A sad man at times, nothing could exceed his bright 
humor on occasion. Had he lived, I believe he would have 
been, like Broderick, James T. Brady, and Sickles, in hearty 
hostility to the rebeUion. After he left Congress he made a 
tour of Europe, visited the camps of the great contending powers 
in the Crimea, and was for a time the guest of the Hon. Carroll 
Spence, American Minister at Constantinople. He reached 
there from Sebastopol penniless, and without suitable clothing. 
I have heard Mr. Spence describe his bearing among the polish- 
ed people of the diplomatic circles. His anecdotes of men and 



114 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

women, his tenacious memory, his genial nature, and, above all, 
his dry and irresistible humor, captivated them. Some of his 
letters, written while he was abroad, were unrivaled in their way. 
For many years he bore uncontested sway in the politics of 
New York, especially in the famous Empire Club. He was a 
proud and honest man, and had he shaped his course by a more 
moderate standard, he would, I believe, be still living. He was 
found dead on the 17th of March, 1859. Peace to the ashes of 
Mike AValsh ! 

[July 9,1871.] 



XXVII. 

Writing about "public men," I am not willing to exclude 
myself from the opportunity of saying something about the cel- 
ebrated women who have figured in American history. First 
among these, among my own recollections, was the versatile and 
original Frances Wright, or Madame Frances d'Arusmont, still 
better known as " Fanny Wright," a Scotchwoman, who visited 
this country in 1818, 1820, and 1825, ^^^ died in Cincinnati 
on the 13th of January, 1853, aged fifty-seven. She excited 
much comment by her leveling doctrines and her extravagant 
language. But she had many followers and courtiers, among 
them the still living Robert Dale Owen. The well-known Amos 
Gilbert wrote a memoir of her in 1855, two years after her death, 
entitled, "The Pioneer Woman, or the Cause of Woman's 
Rights." She was a person of immense energy and uncommon 
versatility. The list of her works is something unusual. She 
wrote a tragedy called " Altorf," in 18 19; "Views of Society and 
Manners in America," which ran through four editions, and was 
translated into French, published in 1820, and republished, with 
alterations and additions, in 1821 and 1822; "A Few Days in 



ANNIE ROYALL. II5 

Athens," being a translation of a Greek manuscript found in 
Herculaneum, and a defense of the Epicurean Philosophy, pub- 
lished in London in 1822, and republished in Boston in 1822. 
These were followed by a course of popular lectures, spoken in 
all the leading cities North, West, and South, and printed for 
circulation, and running through six editions. She was also the 
author, in company with Robert Dale Owen, of certain popular 
tracts, and in 1844 ^^^ biography was published in England, 
including her notes and political letters. I shall always remem- 
ber the effect produced by the lectures of this indefatigable and 
really gifted woman, as she traveled through Pennsylvania 
many years ago. Controverted and attacked by the clergy 
and the press, she maintained an undaunted front, and perse- 
vered to the last. That she was a woman of great mind is es- 
tablished by the number of her followers, including some of the 
best intellects of the country, and by the repeated publication 
and very general reading of her tracts and essays. It is related 
that when she came to her death-bed she recanted the most of 
her free-love and socialistic theories. 

Very different from Fanny Wright was the notorious Annie 
Royall, who died on the ist of September, 1854, on Capitol 
Hill, in the city of Washington. She was the terror of politi- 
cians, and especially of Congressmen. I can see her now tramp- 
ing through the halls of the old Capitol, umbrella in hand, seiz- 
ing upon every passer-by, and offering her book for sale. Any 
public man who refused to buy was certain of a severe phi- 
lippic in her newspaper, T/ie Washingtoti Paul Pry, or in that 
which succeeded it. The Huntress. " We have the famous Mrs. 
Royall here," writes Justice Story to Mrs. Story, on the 8th of 
March, 1827, "with her new novel, 'The Tennesseans,' which 
she has compelled the Chief Justice and myself to buy to avoid 
a castigation. I shall bring it home for your edification." She 
wrote and printed a great deal, but seemed to rely almost en- 
tirely upon her ability to blacken private character. Among 



Il6 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

her productions were " Sketches of History, Life, and Manners 
in the United States," published in 1826; the "Black Book," 
published in 1828, and continued in 1829 ; and her " Southern 
Tour," the second series of the " Black Book," which appeared 
in 1830-31; "The Tennesseans," a novel, and "Letters from 
Alabama" on various subjects, in 1830. 

Mrs. Royall's career was a rough one, and she seemed to 
live for the purpose of revenging her misfortunes upon others. 
She was a native of Virginia, and at an early age was stolen by 
the Indians, with whom she remained about fifteen years. 
Shortly after her release she married a Captain Royall, and re- 
moved to Alabama, where she learned to read and write, subse- 
quently taking up her residence in Washington. Dying at an 
advanced age in 1854, she was present during the administra- 
tions of John Quincy Adams, General Jackson, Martin Van 
Buren, Harrison and Tyler, James K. Polk, Taylor and Fill- 
more. Her newspapers were badly printed and badly written, 
and her squibs and stories more remarkable for bitterness than 
for wit. She was a woman of great industry and astonishing 
memory; but at last she seemed to tire of a vocation which 
grew more and more unprofitable with better times and milder 
manners. 

There is no better evidence of the sure and permanent im- 
provement of the public press than the difierence between the 
lady writers of the present day and these two memorable ex- 
amples. Correspondence, and even editorship, has risen to a 
profession among educated women in the United States ; and 
with the exception of a few, who do not find the circulation of 
scandal or of socialistic doctrines in any sense a profitable 
pastime, most of them are generously and substantially reward- 
ed. No Fanny Wright frightens the proprieties in the States ; 
no Annie Royall terrifies the statesmen in the Capitol. 

The female correspondents of to-day are welcomed and hon^ 
ored in every circle. They write generally from a conscien- 



DEMOCRATS IN FORTY-FOUR. II7 

tious love of their vocation, and they are popular because their 
style is more spiritudle than the rough rhetoric of the trained 
Bohemians. Avoiding all scandal and preserving the delicacy 
of the sex, they present a contrast to the startling theories 
of Fanny Wright and the rude vituperation of Annie Royall. 
Their energy and perseverance are making journalism and cor- 
respondence a permanent vocation for their sisters; and as 
the press grows in influence it will need all sorts of auxiliaries, 
and none will give it more of the variety, which is the spice of 
life, than the sparkle, the wit, the grace, and the impulse of in- 
tellectual womanhood. 
[July 16, 1871.] 



XXVIII. 

The Democratic National Convention which met at Balti- 
more on the 27th of May, 1844, was one of the most exciting 
political conventions I ever attended. I was there as a report- 
er of my newspaper, the Lancaster Litelligeficer a?id yournal^ 
and had a seat near the president, Andrew Stevenson, of Vir- 
ginia, father of the present Senator in Congress from Kentucky, 
and witnessed the struggle of the two -thirds rule introduced 
into the convention by Hon. Robert J. Walker for the purpose 
of defeating Martin Van Buren, who was a candidate for the 
Presidential nomination of his party. The Hon. Benjamin F. 
Butler — not the present intellectual giant of that name. Repre- 
sentative from the Fifth Massachusetts district, but General 
Jackson's Attorney-General from December 27, 1831, to June 
24, 1834, after the retirement of Roger B. Taney, who was ap- 
pointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States 
— was Van Buren's champion. • Butler was at that time a man 
of about fifty years of age, with a handsome, intellectual face, 



Ii8 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

of large reputation as orator and jurist ; but he was no match 
for the little Mississippian. That was the first time I had ever 
seen Robert J. Walker. I had read his speeches while he was 
a Senator in Congress, and knew a good deal of his history ; 
but I was not prepared to see so small and insignificant-look- 
ing a person, nor yet for the marvelous power which he exer- 
cised in the convention, and the efiect produced by his speech 
in reply to the Van Buren leader. He had not spoken twenty 
minutes before it was evident, from the cheers of the conven- 
tion, that the doom of the Kinderhook statesman was sealed. 
James K. Polk received the nomination, which would have been 
conferred upon Pennsylvania, in the person of James Buchan- 
an, if the latter had not timidly withdrawn his name from the 
list of candidates, in the belief that the party was united upon 
Van Buren. It is true there were many elements in Pennsyl- 
vania opposed to Buchanan ; but he had strength enough to 
unite the South, and as no man could then be made President 
without the consolidated vote of that section, all domestic op- 
position would have been bafiled. 

The wound inflicted on the Van Buren faction rankled until 
it came to a head, in 1848, in the organization which made him 
a third candidate and defeated Lewis Cass. Polk was elect- 
ed, chiefly through the influence of Silas AVright, who consented 
to resign his place as a Senator in Congress, and to run for 
Governor of New York — a concession and a sacrifice which 
satisfied the Van Burenites, and postponed their outbreak upon 
the Southern Democracy for four years. 

No personage in politics ever led a more active life than 
Robert J. Walker. Born at Northumberland, in the State of 
Pennsylvania, in 1801, he entered the University in Philadel- 
phia, and graduated in 1819 ; studied law, was admitted to prac- 
tice in 182 1, and became chairman of the Democratic commit- 
tee when only twenty-two years of age. He was one of the ear- 
liest supporters of General Jackson for the Presidency, and ef- 



ROBERT J. WALKER. itg 

fectually aided to bring about the action of the Harrisburg Con- 
vention, which nominated the hero of New Orleans for that of- 
fice in 1824. In the spring of 1826 he removed to Mississippi, 
and practiced his profession without taking any political office 
until ten years later, when he was chosen a Senator in Congress, 
and served until 1845, ^vhen he was called to the Treasury De- 
partment by President Polk. He excelled as a writer for the 
newspapers, and as a popular orator ; was capable of prodig- 
ious mental toil ; had unequaled memory, rare enthusiasm, and 
intense convictions. Large reading, polished manners, singu- 
lar generosity, and simplicity of character completed the quali- 
ties of a successful leader. His arguments in the Senate were 
masterpieces. He there brought to the discussion of every 
question all his peculiar powers. Without considering his free- 
trade ideas, which are still the subject of animated controversy, 
it is simple justice to state that he contributed immensely to 
many important reforms in the public service. He was the ad- 
vocate of a liberal land policy, the champion of public improve- 
ments, the antagonist of religious intolerance, the fearless ene- 
my of nullification, and he will perhaps be better remembered 
for the part he acted when he reluctantly accepted the position 
of Governor of Kansas in 1857. Sent there by an Administra- 
tion which betrayed the solemn pledge upon which alone it was 
elected, he was believed by the pro-slavery men to be in hearty 
sympathy with their plans ; but sustained by his independent 
secretary, Hon. Frederick P. Stanton (still living in Washing- 
ton, where he was born, and deservedly prospering in the prac- 
tice of his profession of the law), he soon discovered that he 
could not second that betrayal without the loss of his own 
honor. He revolted from the unblushing frauds sought to be 
perpetrated in the endeavor to force slavery into Kansas. But 
what Reeder and Geary had done under Pierce in the same po- 
sition, he did under Buchanan, with even more courage and 
effect. At that time my paper, T/ie Press, was in the throes 



I20 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

of its first great conflict with the pro-slavery Democracy. Hold- 
ing Buchanan steadily to the pledge of justice to Kansas, day 
after day I waited for the report of Robert J. Walker with inex- 
pressible solicitude, and when finally it came in a telegraphic 
dispatch, which he sent me from the town of York, Pennsylva- 
nia, while on his way to Washington to protest against the con- 
spiracy to which Mr. Buchanan had surrendered, I felt that our 
battle was won. Walker's repudiation of the frauds in Kansas, 
which he was solemnly enjoined to assist, in a private letter 
written to him by President Buchanan, followed by his manly 
resignation of an office which he could no longer hold, thrilled 
the people of the whole country, and, in the election which en- 
sued, aided to demolish the Democracy in nearly all the free 
States. It revolutionized Berks County by electing the venera- 
ble John Schwartz, in 1858, by nineteen votes, notwithstanding 
the Democratic majority of 6004 two years before, defeating 
Buchanan's favorite, J. Glancy Jones, now a citizen of the 
State of Delaware, patiently preparing to step into the Senate 
whenever the people of that little Commonwealth are ready to 
employ him. It gave us a Republican Representative in Will- 
iam E. Lehman, in the first Pennsylvania district. It gave us 
a Republican in the Montgomery district, and it left but four 
Administration Congressmen from Pennsylvania. It swept 
New Jersey. It destroyed the Democratic prestige in New 
York, and almost changed the aspect of the National House of 
Representatives. It confessedly paved the way to the freedom 
of Kansas and to the complete annihilation of the whole pro- 
slavery plot. 

Of course, a statesman bold and brave enough to take issue 
with an Administration determined upon such a wrong could 
not expect to escape the persecutions of the South, and so, after 
Abraham Lincoln was elected, Robert J. Walker was found 
among the firmest supporters of the policy of his Administra- 
tion. The same lefferson Davis who had apologized for the 



WALKERS REPLY TO SLIDELL. 121 

repudiation of the debt of Mississippi, was the leader of a re- 
bellion founded upon the nullification doctrines which Walker 
had always opposed. Walker's labors through the press, on 
the hustings, and in personal appeals against the rebellion, were 
wonderful. 

The sagacious Lincoln, fully convinced that the war for the 
Union could not be carried to success without the aid of the 
Douglas Democracy — and who would have conferred upon Ste- 
phen A. Douglas, if he had lived, one of the most important 
commands in the army — called Robert J. Walker to his aid, 
and sent him forth to Europe, in 1863, ^^^ the purpose of pre- 
senting our country's cause to the people of the Old World, and 
especially for the purpose of spreading before them incontesti- 
ble proofs of our ability to maintain ourselves, and of our inex- 
haustible financial resources. One of his first acts was to print 
in the London Times a caustic reply to John Slidell, then Jeffer- 
son Davis's Minister at Paris, who attempted to vindicate his 
master against the charge of having assisted in the repudiation 
of the State bonds of Mississippi. As I write I have before 
me this magnificent paper ; and now that the great brain that 
conceived and the ready hand that penned it are silent in the 
grave, it deserves to be laid as an enduring wreath upon his 
tomb : 

"Here, then, are eight judges, all chosen by the people of 
Mississippi, concurring in 1842, as well as in 1853, as to 
the validity of these bonds, and yet Jefferson Davis justifies 
their repudiation. The judges of Mississippi all take an oath 
to support the Constitution, and it is made their duty to inter- 
pret it 

" The Legislature is confined to law-making, and forbidden 
to exercise any judicial power; the expounding this supple- 
mental law, and the provisions under which it was enacted, is 
exclusively a judicial power, and yet the Legislature tcsiirps this 
power, repudiates the bonds of the State, and the acts of the 

F 



122 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

three preceding Legislatures, and the decision of the highest 
tribunals of the State. Jefferson Davis sustains this repudia- 
tion, and the British public are asked to take new Confederate 
bonds, issued by the same Jefferson Davis, and thus to sanc- 
tion and encourage and offer a premium for repudiation. These 
so-called Confederate bonds are issued in open violation of the 
Constitution of the United States ; they are absolute nullities, 
they are tainted with treason, they never can or will be paid, 
and yet they are thrust on the British public under the sanction 
of the same great repudiator, Jefferson Davis, who applauds the 
non-payment of the Mississippi bonds, and thus condemns hun- 
dreds of innocent holders, including widows and orphans, to 
want and misery. Talk about /^////, about honor, shout jusfke, 
and the sanctity of contracts ; why, if such flagrant outrages, such 
atrocious crimes can be sustained by the great public of any 
nation, small indeed must be the value of their bonds, which 
rests exclusively on good faith." 

Now read the following appeal to the English government 
and people, and remember that the very men here denounced 
are once more engaged in an attempt to seize the government 
of the Union : 

" The blasphemous doctrine of the divine right of kings was 
discarded by England in the Revolution of 1688. The British 
throne reposes now on the alleged basis of the welfare and hap- 
piness of the people. What form of government will best pro- 
mote that end ? This is the only question. I believe it is ours 
— but only with slavery extinguished, and universal education 
— schools — schools — schools — common schools — high schools 
for all. Education the criterion of the right of suffrage, not 
property. I do not believe in a government of ignorance, 
whether by the rich or poor, the many or the few. With the 
constant and terrible opposing element of slavery, we have cer- 
tainly achieved stupendous results in three fourths of a century ; 
and to say that our system has failed, because slavery now 



WALKER S REPLY TO SEIDELL. 



123 



makes war upon it, is amazing folly. Why predict that, when 
reunited and with slavery extinguished, we would bully the 
world ? Who were our bullies ^ Who struck down Charles 
Sumner, the Senator from Massachusetts, the eminent scholar 
and orator, on the floor of the Senate, for denouncing the 
horrors of slavery } A South Carolina member of Congress, 
while all slavedom approved the deed. AVho endeavored to 
force slavery on Kansas by murder and rapine, and the forgery 
of a constitution .'' Who repealed the Missouri Compromise, in 
order to force slavery upon all the Territories of the United 
States ? Who are endeavoring now to dissolve the Union, and 
spread slavery over all this wide domain ? Who conspired to 
assassinate the American President on his way to Washington ? 
Who murdered, in Baltimore, the men of Massachusetts, on 
their way to the defense of the Capital of the Union ? Who 
commenced the conflict by firing upon the starving garrison of 
Sumter, and striking down the banner of the Union which 
floated over its walls ? Who, immediately thereafter, announced 
their resolution to capture Washington, seized the national 
arms and forts and dock-yards and vessels and arsenals and 
mints and treasure, and opened the war upon the Federal Gov- 
ernment.? There is a plain answer to all these questions. It 
is the lords of the whip and the chain and the branding- iron 
who are our bullies ; who insist upon forced labor, and repudi- 
ate all compensation to the toiling millions of slaves — who re- 
pudiate among slaves the marital and parental relation, and 
class them by law as chattels — who forbid emancipation — who 
make it a crime to teach slaves to write or read, aye, even the 
Bible — who keep open the inter-State slave-trade (more horri- 
ble than the African, making Virginia a human stock-farm), 
tearing husband from wife, and parents from children — found- 
ing a Government boldly announcing the property in man based 
avowedly on the divinity, extension, and perpetuity of slavery — 
these are our bullies, and when they are overthrown we shall 



124 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

commence a new career of peaceful progress and advanced civ- 
ilization. And why sow the seeds of international hatred be- 
tween England and America ? Is war really desired between 
the two countries, or is it supposed that we will yield to foreign 
intervention without a struggle ? No j the North will rise as 
one man, and thousands even from the South will join them. 
The country will become a camp, and the ocean will swarm 
with our privateers. Rather than submit to dismemberment or 
secession, which is anarchy and ruin, we will, we must fight until 
the last man has fallen. If the views of a foreign power have 
been truly represented in Parliament, and such an aggression 
upon us is contemplated, let him beware, for in such a contest 
the political pyramid resting upon its apex, the power of one 
man, is much more likely to fall than that which reposes on 
the broad basis of the will of the people." 

This first article was a bombshell in the ranks of the con- 
spirators sent to Europe to poison our credit and blast our 
fame, and it was followed by a number of even greater force 
and ability, in one of which he said : 

"Why, the legal-tender notes of the so-called Confederate 
government, fundable in a stock bearing eight per cent, inter- 
est, are now worth in gold, at their own capital of Richmond, 
less than ten cents on the dollar (two shillings on the pound), 
while in two thirds of their territory such notes are utterly worth- 
less ; and it is treason for any citizen of the United States, 
North or South, or any alien resident there, to deal in them or 
in Confederate bonds, or in the cotton pledged for their pay- 
ment. No form of Confederate bonds or notes or stock will 
ever be recognized by the Government of the United States, 
and the cotton pledged by slaveholding traitors for the pay- 
ment of the Confederate bonds is all forfeited for treason, and 
confiscated to the Federal Government by act of Congress." 

On the 26th of November, 1863, at a great Thanksgiving 
dinner of the loyal Americans in London, in accordance with 



SLAVERY ABOLISHED. I25 

the proclamation of Abraham Lincoln, of which Robert J. Wal- 
ker was president, he used the following inspiring language, 
which I quote, not only to revive the recollection of his great 
services, but as most pertinent at the present hour: 

" This day has been set apart by the President of the United 
States for thanksgiving to Almighty God for all the blessings 
which he has vouchsafed to us as a people. Among these are 
abundant crops, great prosperity in all our industrial pursuits, 
a vast addition, even during the war, to our material wealth, 
and augmented immigration to our shores from Europe. Our 
finances have been conducted with great ability and success by 
the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. Chase, who has also suc- 
ceeded in giving us, for the first time in our history, a uniform 
natfonal currency, which, as a bond of union and as an addition 
to our wealth and resources, is nearly equal to all the expenses 
of the great contest. [Loud cheers for Mr. Chase.] During 
the present year nearly four hundred million dollars of the six 
per cent, stock of the United States has been taken at home, at 
or above par, while within the last few months European capi- 
talists, unsolicited by us, are making large investments in the 
securities of the Union. But, above all, we have to thank God 
for those victories in the field which are bringing this great 
contest to a successful conclusion. This rebellion is, indeed, 
the most stupendous in history. It absorbs the attention and 
affects the political institutions and material interests of the 
world. The armies engaged exceed those of Napoleon. Death 
never had such a carnival, and each week consumes millions 
of treasure. Great is the sacrifice, but the cause is peerless 
and sublime. [Cheers.] If God has placed us in the van of 
the great contest for the rights and liberties of man; if he has 
assigned us the post of danger and of suffering, it is that of un- 
fading glory and imperishable renown. [Loud cheers.] The 
question with us, which is so misunderstood here, is that of 
national unity [Hear, hear], which is the vital element of our 



126 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

existence ; and any settlement which does not secure this, with 
the entire integrity of the Union and freedom throughout all its 
borders, will be treason to our country and to mankind. [Loud 
cheers.] To acknowledge the absurd and anarchical doctrine 
of secession, as is demanded of us here ; to abdicate the power 
of self-preservation, and permit the Union to be dissolved, is 
ruin, disgrace, and suicide. There is but one alternative — we 
must and will fight it out to the last. [Loud and prolonged 
applause.] If need be, all who can bear arms must take to the 
field, and leave to those who can not the pursuits of industry. 
[Hear, hear.] If we count not the cost of this contest in men 
or money, it is because all loyal Americans believe that the 
value of our Union can not be estimated. [Hear, hear.] If mar- 
tyrs from every State, from England, and from nearly every 
nation of Christendom, have fallen in our defense, never, in 
humble faith we trust, has any blood since that of Calvary been 
shed in a cause so holy. [Cheers.] 

=H= * * # # # # 

" The Union will still live. It is written by the finger of God, 
on the scroll of destiny, that neither principalities nor powers 
shall affect its overthrow, nor shall ' the gates of hell prevail 
against it.' But what as to the results? It is said we have 
accomplished nothing ; and this is re-echoed every morning by 
the pro-slavery press of England. We have done nothing! 
Why we have conquered, and now occupy, two thirds of the 
entire territory of the South, an area far larger (while overcom- 
ing a greater resisting force) than that traversed by the armies 
of Caesar or Alexander. The whole of the Mississippi River, 
from its source to its mouth, with all its thirty thousand miles 
of tributaries, is exclusively ours. [Cheers.] So is the great 
Chesapeake Bay. Slavery is not only abolished in the Federal 
district, containing the Capital of the LTnion, but in all our vast 
territorial domain, comprising more than eight hundred million 
acres, and nearly half the size of all Europe. The four slave- 



STILL THE UNION. 12 7 

holding States of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri 
are devotedly loyal, and thoroughly sustaining the Union. And 
how as to Virginia ? Why all the counties of Virginia east of 
the Chesapeake are ours; all that vast portion of Eastern Vir- 
ginia north of the Rappahannock is ours also. But still more, 
all that great territory of Virginia, from the mountains to the 
Ohio, is ours also ; and not only ours, but, by the overwhelming 
voice of her people, has formed a State government. By their 
own votes they have abolished slavery, and have been admitted 
as one of the free States of the American Union. [Loud 
cheers.] And where is the great giant State of the West — 
Missouri ? She is not only ours, but, by an overwhelming ma- 
jority of the popular vote, carried into effect by her constitu- 
tional convention, has provided for the abolition of slavery, and 
enrolls herself soon as one of the free States of the American 
Union. [Cheers.] And now, as to Maryland. The last steam- 
er brings us the news of the recent elections in Maryland, which 
have not only sustained the Union, but have sent an overwhelm- 
ing majority to Congress and to the State Legislature in favor 
^ of immediate emancipation ; and Delaware adopts the same 
policy. [Loud applause.] Tennessee is also ours. From the 
Mississippi to the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers ; from 
Knoxville, in the mountains of the east, to Nashville, the capi- 
tal, in the centre, and Memphis, the commercial metropolis, in 
the west, Tennessee is wholly ours. So is Arkansas. So is 
Louisiana, including the great city of New Orleans. So is 
North Alabama. So is Western Texas. So is two thirds of 
the State of Mississippi ; and now the Union troops hold Chat- 
tanooga, the great impregnable fortress of Northwestern Geor- 
gia. From Chattanooga, which may be regarded as the great 
geographical central point of the rebellion, the armies of the 
Republic will march down through the heart of Georgia, and 
join our troops upon the sea-board of that State, and thus ter- 
minate the rebellion. [Loud cheers.] Into Georgia and the 



128 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Carolinas nearly half a million slaves have been driven by their 
masters in advance of the Union army. From Virginia, from 
Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennes- 
see, and North Alabama, thousands of their slaves have been 
driven and huddled together in the two Carolinas and Georgia ; 
because, if they had been left where they were, they would have 
joined the Northern armies. They preferred to be free men 
rather than slaves ; they preferred to be men and women rather 
than chattels ; they preferred freedom to chains and bondage ; 
and just so soon as that Union army advances into the Caro- 
linas and Georgia will the slaves rush to the standard of free- 
dom, and fight, as they have fought, with undaunted courage for 
liberty and the Union. [Loud applause.] 

" But how is it with the South ? Why, months ago they had 
called out, e?i 7}iasse, all who were capable of bearing arms. 
They have raised their last army. And how as to money? 
Why they are in a state of absolute bankruptcy. Their money, 
all they have, that which they call money, according to their 
own estimation, as fixed and taken by themselves, one dollar 
of gold purchases sixteen dollars of Confederate paper, which 
must soon cease to circulate at any rate. The price of flour 
is now one hundred dollars a barrel, and other articles in 
like proportion. No revenue is collected, or can be. The 
army and the government are supported exclusively by force, 
by seizing the crops of farmers and planters and using them 
for the benefit of the so-called Confederate government. 
Starvation is staring them in the face. The collapse is im- 
minent, and, so far as we may venture to predict any future 
event, nothing can be more certain than that before the closing 
of the ensuing year the rebellion will be brought entirely to a 
close. [Hear, hear.] We must recollect, also, that there is not 
a single State of the South in which a large majority of the pop- 
ulation (including the blacks) is not now, and always has been, 
devoted to the Union. Why, in the State of South Carolina 



THE GOOD CAUSE. 1 29 

alone the blacks who are devoted to the Union exceed the whites 
more than one hundred thousand in number. The recent elec- 
tions have all gone for the Union by overwhelming majorities, 
and volunteering for the army progresses with renewed vigor. 
For all these blessings the President of the United States in- 
vites us to render thanks to Almighty God. Our cause is that 
of humanity, of civilization, of Christianity. We write upon our 
banners, from the inspired words of Holy Writ, ' God has made 
of one blood all the nations of the earth.' We acknowledge all 
as brothers ; we invite them to partake with us alike in the grand 
inheritance of freedom, and we repeat the divine sentiment 
from the Sermon on the Mount, ' Do unto others as you would 
have them do unto you.' [Loud cheers.] Nor let it be sup- 
posed that we, as Americans, are entirely selfish in this matter. 
We believe that this Union is the most sacred trust ever con- 
fided by Almighty God to man. We believe that this American 
Union is the best, the brightest, the last experiment of self- 
government, and as it shall be sustained and perpetuated, or 
broken and dissolved, the light of liberty shall beam upon the 
hopes of mankind, or be forever extinguished, amid the scoffs 
of exulting tyrants and the groans of a world in bondage. 
[Loud applause.] All nations and ages will soon acknowledge 
that, in this contest, we have made greater sacrifices of blood 
and treasure in the cause of human freedom than was ever be- 
fore recorded in history. We will have suppressed the most 
gigantic and the most wicked rebellion, a task that could have 
been accomplished by no other government. We have suc- 
ceeded, because our institutions rest on the broad basis of the 
affections, the interests, and the power of the people. No other 
nation could bring a million of volunteers to the field — [loud 
cheers] — and millions more would come if necessary. As a 
result of this war we will extinguish slavery, we will perpetuate 
and consolidate the Union, we will prove that man is capable 
of self-government, and secure the ultimate ascendency of free 

F 2 



130 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

institutions throughout the world. This, therefore, is a day in 
which all humanity may unite with us in the hymn of praise, 
and the toiling millions of the earth join with us in fervent 
thanksgiving to Almighty God for the approaching redemption 
of our race from slavery and oppression. [Loud and long-con- 
tinued cheering and applause.]" 

Mr. Walker was not a member of the Republican party, al- 
though he supported Mr. Lincoln in 1864, but he was a patriot 
in the largest sense, and, like many of his school, after giving 
half a century of his time to his country, he died poor. A gen- 
erous government ought to seize an early occasion to prove, at 
least in this case, that "Republics are not ungrateful." 

[July 23, 1 87 1.] 



XXIX. 

We are all the unconscious actors and spectators in the 
world's theatre. The parts we play, and the scenes we applaud, 
are the double substance of the current attraction. In 1844 we 
had the drama of the Native American riots in Philadelphia ; 
in 1854 the sensation of Know-Nothingism ; and seven years 
later the tragedy of the rebellion. And now, at the end of an- 
other decade, the curtain rises before the New York outbreak 
of the 12th of July, 1871. This last is too fresh for the histo- 
rian, and so we refer it to the tribunal of time, content to let its 
seeds work their way among the minds of men, and sure of the 
harvest for the right. For as the riots of 1844, and the frenzy 
of 1854, and the tragedy of 1861-65 were each followed by 
good results, so will the last sad evidence of bad passions attain 
its ultimate compensation. In our happy country our better 
nature secures the final mastery. Evil men and evil measures 
dominate for a while, but they are finally crushed, inevitably, 
and without exception. 



LEWIS C. LEVIN. 131 

Leaving the authors of the rebellion to the fate they deserve, 
it seems to me a not inopportune task to recall some of the 
leaders of the excitements of 1844 ^"d 1854. They are nearly 
all in their graves ; but they are keenly remembered in the light 
of recent events. The face and form of Lewis C. Levin rise 
before me as I write. In this section, at least, for six years 
the uncontested Native American chief, he is conceded to have 
been the founder of his party. Born in South Carolina, on the 
loth day of November, 1808, and dying in Philadelphia on the 
14th of March, i860, he was qualified for a longer career, though 
it may be claimed that in his day he filled a large space in the 
public eye. He had an immense following. Blending relig- 
ious with political passions, he dominated in our conventions, 
electing himself and others to Congress, carrying most of the 
local officers in Philadelphia, and erecting in the First Pennsyl- 
vania district, now the stronghold of the very Catholics he op- 
posed, a power that was, while it endured, really invincible. 
Perhaps the very ferocity of the onset of Mr. Levin and his co- 
horts gave the sympathy of others to the Catholics. A fervid 
speaker and nervous writer, he was conspicuous on the open 
platform, the Congressional forum, and in the public press. 
Some of his speeches in the House were models of popular 
oratory. ■ One of his finest was that of the 2d of March, 1848, 
from which I take these passages : 

" If Rome will not come to America, America must go to 
Rome ! This is the new doctrine of an age of retrogressive 
progress. If the Pope will not establish a republic for his Ital- 
ian subjects, we, the American people, must renounce all the ties 
of our glorious freedom, and indorse the Papal system as the 
perfection of human wisdom, by sending an embassador to Rome 
to congratulate 'His Holiness' on having made — what? The 
Roman people free ? Oh, no ! but on having made tyranny 
amiable ; on having sugared the poisoned cake. And for this, 
the highest crime against freedom, we are to commission an 



132 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

embassador to Rome ! Is there an American heart that does 
not recoil from the utter degradation of the scheme ? 

" The flood of immigration is sweeping its miUions of foreign 
Roman Cathohc voters over the land. The past is gloomy 
enough, the present awfully portentous — but the future is black 
' with shadows, clouds, and darkness.' This country seems des- 
tined to be the grand theatre of Roman Catholic power — not 
American Papistry, but the Papistry of Rome, of the Old World, 
of Austria, and of the Pope. Shall we grow wise in time, or 
shall we surrender our rights without resistance ? Shall we 
make a stand now, or a Government proposition to unite this 
free Republic with absolute Rome ? or shall we surrender in an- 
ticipation of the day of trial, and ask the Pope, in despair, to 
fetter our hands before we strike a blow ? 

" Sir, if it be written in the black book of fate that this great 
Republic is yet to become a dependency of the Court of Rome, 
let us not hasten our infamy by any premature weakness, by 
any act that shall expedite our downfall or accelerate our bond- 
age. We are now asked to become voluntary agents in en- 
thralling ourselves ; we are implored to send an embassador to 
Rome, to have our manacles forged in the furnaces of the im- 
perial city, under the special care of the Holy Father, who ac- 
knowledges no human authority in matters of government, but 
who pleads a divine right to bow down the neck of a man in 
the dust and yoke him to the iron car of absolute power. 

"Will gentlemen who propose to rivet this religious chain 
think of the future ? for it is to the future that we are to look 
for bonds, fetters, and disfranchisement — that future which in 
a few years will expand our population to a hundred millions ; 
when our wild Indian lands, embracing Oregon and the far West, 
shall have been settled by foreign Roman Catholics and their 
children, all under the guidance and control of Jesuit lead- 
ers, bound to obey their general, the Pope's nuncio, whose head- 
quarters are to be the seat of government, and that geat of 



ANTI-ROMANISM. I33 

government the city of Washington ! Let us imagine for a mo- 
ment all this expanse of empire, embracing some fifty or sixty 
States, to be settled by its proportion of the foreign slaves of 
foreign Jesuits ; and, inferring the future from the past, that they 
have been successful in extending their invasions upon the spir- 
itual and political rights of the American people, what would 
be the direful consequences of this dreadful overshadowing of 
the moral and intellectual world ? 

"Are the religious wars and relentless persecutions of fire, 
rack, and other bloody demonstrations of bigotry, with which 
Popery has deluged Europe for ages, again to be acted over 
here, on the fair and unstained bosom of our vast and free Re- 
public ? Heaven forbid this foul desecration of our equal 
rights ! And yet what hope of exemption gleams in the future, 
unless the friends of civil and religious liberty, animated by a 
sublime devotion to the welfare of their children and the free- 
dom of prosperity, now combine to arrest the march of Papal 
usurpation before it overspreads the land, and plants its * gar- 
risons' of power deep into the bosom of our valleys, irresistible 
and unresisted ? 

"And here, sir, I may be permitted to ask. Why is it that the 
Jesuits have made such strenuous efforts to drive that Bible 
from our public schools ? Why those dark insinuations of the 
unfitness of Bible truths for the daily duties of life ? We claim 
for the American-born child of the foreign Roman Catholic the 
same glorious privileges our own children enjoy — to read, ex- 
amine, investigate for themselves ; to reject or adopt it as they 
see fit, unawed by any human power. Shall there be one code 
of morals for one class, and another for a higher or a lower 
one ? Shall the Jesuit clergy coin a construction of the Bible 
for the people which the people have no right to test by their 
own understandings, and thus establish a human tariff for crime, 
adjusted by mere human authority, in opposition to the com- 
mandments of God, and meet with no resistance ? Or rather. 



134 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

SO far from resistance, the approving smiles and generous en- 
couragement of the representatives of the American people ? 

"Sir, we have lived to see the Bible driven from our public 
schools and burned in the public streets — that Bible, so insepa- 
rably interwoven with the genius and spirit of American insti- 
tutions. The Congress of 1777 distributed thirty thousand cop- 
ies of that Bible among the American people — that same Bible 
that Mary gave to her little George, whose precepts and whose 
principles led him, at the head of the American troops, to 
achieve that freedom which we now enjoy. Do what you may, 
I tell you that the American-born citizens of this country, at 
least the native-born Americans, will, at all hazards, keep that 
Bible in the hands of their little Georges too. 

" Sir, we do not protest against this religious link between 
our free Republic and the Papal throne ; a throne, unlike all 
others, built upon power, spiritual and temporal, political and 
religious ; a throne which makes man a slave, and transforms 
kings into fiends, priests into tormentors, a people into drones, 
a country into a desert ; a throne which extinguishes the fire on 
the altar of domestic love in a form peculiar, fatal, revolting ; 
snatching its votaries away from the homage of nature to the 
cold convent, the repulsive abbey, the gloomy cell of the an- 
chorite, the horrid dungeon of the Inquisition, and the demor- 
alizing edict of celibacy ; stirring up sedition, rebellion, and civ- 
il war, as the only means of extending a power which reason 
revolts from, and persuasion fails to diffuse ; which mankind 
have resisted in every age, at the peril and under the penalty 
of the cannon's mouth, the edge of the sword, the fire of the fag- 
ot, the torments of the stake, and the tortures of the rack ! 

" Sir, in the name of the American people, I protest against 
this innovation, which would make us a by-word among the na- 
tions. It is almost an obsolete but still a venerated and solemn 
custom, appropriate to all great and imminent conjunctures of 
public import, to invoke the special protection of a Superior 



HENRY A. WISE. I35 

Being, and, in the same spirit that animated our sires of 1776, 1 
exclaim, God save the Repubhc !" 

Parties reeled, politicians changed and cowered before the 
fiery eloquence of this daring reformer, whose words, repeated 
to-day, have a strange and almost prophetic significance. I am 
proud to claim that I was not one of those who feared to take 
issue with his doctrines, and this the more because now I find 
myself arrayed against the dangerous dogmas enunciated by 
certain grave potentates, and too sadly illustrated by their ig- 
norant and misguided followers. 

The fires lighted by Mr. Levin were subdued before other- 
questions, but they were not extinguished. When he had al- 
most passed from the stage of politics, and the Democrats re- 
gained their lost power, they broke out again in 1854, extending 
over a wider field, and for a time threatening a more permanent 
demolition of parties; but, like its progenitor, Know-Nothingism 
was too fierce and illogical to last. It died of its secrecy, and 
when this was dissolved the whole organization passed away 
like an exhalation. The Aaron's rod of anti-slavery swallowed 
up all other issues, and Know-Nothingism was lost in Seces- 
sion, which even in 1854 began to project its black shadow, like 
a monstrous demon, upon the scene. 

If Levin was the master-spirit who organized Native- Ameri- 
canism in 1844, Henry A. Wise, of Virginia, was the fearless 
knight who did most to put down Know-Nothingism ten years 
later. The two men were marked antipodes — contrasts in de- 
meanor as in doctrine. Levin was a stout and well-built man, 
with a sonorous voice and a commanding and flowing diction. 
Wise was lean, tall, and cadaverous, with vehemence and tones 
not unlike John Randolph's, and a steel-spring energy that, de- 
spite feeble health, never bent or broke. His campaign for 
Governor in 1855 was one of the most successful in politics. 
The new party was carrying every thing before it. It had en- 
listed some of the first intellects of the time — men like Henry 



136 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Winter Davis, Henry W. Hoffman, and J. Morrison Harris, of 
Maryland ; Henry M. Fuller, of Pennsylvania ; John S. Carlile, 
of Virginia ; Zollicoffer and Etheridge, of Tennessee ; George 
Eustis, of Louisiana ; Humphrey Marshall, A. K. Marshall, and 
W. L. Underwood, of Kentucky. Maryland, Delaware, Ken- 
tucky, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, had in whole or in part 
bowed to the torrent, when Wise came forth and breasted and 
broke it. His speeches were unique, original, and resistless. 
He traversed his State from the Alleghanies to the sea. He 
was ubiquitous. He became more than ever a national figure. 
Thousands of dollars were lost and won on the issue. The only 
money I ever wagered on an election was five hundred dollars 
I ventured on Wise. The following extract from a speech of 
Governor Wise, delivered at Liberty Hall, Alexandria, on Sat- 
urday, February 3, 1856, may not be out of place, if only as a 
counterpart to Levin's : 

" I was saying when interrupted that the State of Virginia 
has every element of commerce, of agriculture, of mining, and 
of manufacturing. On Chesapeake Bay, from the mouth of the 
Rappahannock to the capes of the Chesapeake, you have road- 
steads and harbors sufficient to float the navies of the world. 
From the River of Swans, on whose margin we are, down to the 
line of North Carolina, you have the Potomac, the Rappahan- 
nock, the Piankatank, from Mobjack Bay to James River, and 
the Elizabeth River — all meeting in the most beautiful sheet 
of water of all the seas of the earth. You have the bowels of 
your western mountains — rich in iron, in copper, in coal, in salt, 
in gypsum ; and the very earth is rich in oil, which makes the 
very rivers inflame. You have the line of the Alleghany — 
that beautiful Blue Ridge which stands there, placed by the 
Almighty, not to obstruct the way of the people to market, but 
placed there in the very bounty of Providence to milk the 
clouds, to make the sweet springs which are the source of your 
rivers — [great applause] — and at the head of every stream is 



THE OLD DOMINION. jny 

the waterfall murmuring the very music of your power. [Ap- 
plause.] And yet Commerce has long ago spread her sails and 
sailed away from you. You have not as yet dug more than 
coal enough to warm yourselves at your own hearths. You 
have set no tilt-hammer of Vulcan to strike blows worthy of 
gods in the iron founderies. You have not yet spun more than 
coarse cotton enough, in the way of manufacture, to clothe your 
own slaves. You have had no commerce, no mining, no manu- 
factures. You have relied alone on the single power of agri- 
culture—and such agriculture ! [Great laughter.] Your ledge- 
patches outshine the sun. Your inattention to your only source 
of wealth has seared the very bosom of Mother Earth. [Laugh- 
ter.] Instead of having to feed cattle on a thousand hills, you 
have had to chase the stump-tailed steer through the ledge- 
patches to procure a tough beefsteak. [Laughter.] 

"With all this plenitude of power she has been dwarfed in 
the Union ; but, by the gods ! I say that she has power now, 
the energy, the resources— may I say the men ?— to be put upon 
the line of progress to eminence of prosperity, to pass New 
York yet faster in the Union than ever New York has passed 
her. [Cheers.] You have been called the ' Old Dominion.' 
Let us, as Virginians, I implore you, this night resolve that a 
new era dawn, and that henceforth she shall be called the New 
Dominion. [Cheering.] 

" The present condition of things has existed too long in 
Virginia. The landlord has skinned the tenant, and the ten- 
ant has skinned the land, until all have grown poor together. 
[Laughter.] I have heard a story— I will not locate it here or 
there — about the condition of our agriculture. I was told by a 
gentleman in Washington, not long ago, that he was traveling 
in a county not a hundred miles from this place, and overtook 
one of our citizens on horseback, with perhaps a bag of hay for 
a saddle, without stirrups, and the leading-line for a bridle, and 
he said : ' Stranger, whose house is that ?' ' It is mine,' was 



138 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the reply. They came to another, * Whose house is that?' 
' Mine, too, stranger.' To a third, 'And whose house is that?' 
* That's mine, too, stranger ; but don't suppose that I am so 
darned poor as to own all the land about here.' 

" What more do you want ? Why, you are in the habit of 
discussing Federal politics ; and permit me to say to you, very 
honestly and very openly, that, next to brandy, next to card- 
playing, next to horse-racing, the thing that has done Virginia 
more harm than any other in the course of her past history has 
been her insatiable appetite for Federal politics. [Cheers and 
laughter.] She has given all her great men to the Union. Her 
Washington, her Jefferson, her Madison, her Marshall, her gal- 
axy of great men, she has given to the Union. When and where 
have her best sons been at work, devoting their best energies 
to her service at home ? Richmond, instead of attending to 
Richmond's business, has been too much in the habit of at- 
tending to the affairs of Washington City, when there are plenty 
there, God knows, to attend to them themselves. [Laughter.] 
If you want my opinions upon Federal politics, though, I shall 
not skulk them. 

"The most prominent subject is that of the foreign war. It 
is said that this Administration is a 'do-nothing Administra- 
tion.' To its honor I can claim of every fair-minded man of 
you — to its honor I can claim that it is.at least preserving our 
neutrality in the foreign war. [Loud and prolonged cheers.] I 
concur with them in that policy ; and here let me say that, so 
far as I am concerned, my sentiments are utterly opposed to 
any filibustering in any part of the world. [Cheers.] 

"There is a Know-Nothing member elect from Massachu- 
setts to the Congress of the United States. There is a United 
States Senator elect of the Know-Nothings who confesses the 
accusation which I make, that the new party of Know-Nothings 
was formed especially for the sake of abolitionism. [Cheers 
and hisses.] And there is a Know-Nothing governor, one of 



THE POPE. 139 

the nine, who are all ready to take the same ground. [Stamp- 
ing of feet and some hissing.] Then, gentlemen, I have here 
an act of the Know-Nothing Legislature of Pennsylvania, which 
proposes to give citizenship to the fugitive slaves of the South. 
I have here, also, an article, which is too long for me to read, 
exhausted as I am, from the Worcester Evening yournal^ an 
organ of Governor Gardner and Senator Wilson, which says to 
you boldly that the American organ at Washington is a pro- 
slavery organ, that it is not a true Know-Nothing organ, and 
that they speak for the North when they claim that they have 
already one hundred and sixty votes of the non-slaveholding 
States organized, eleven more than sufficient to elect a Presi- 
dent of the United States without a single electoral vote from 
the slaveholding States. 

" Now, gentlemen, having swept the Northern and the North- 
western non-slaveholding States of the Union, the next onset is 
on the soil of Virginia. This Worcester Jourtial boasts that 
Maryland and Virginia are already almost Northern States; 
and pray, how do they propose to operate on the South ? Hav- 
ing swept the North — Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, 
and all those other States — the question was : How can this 
ism be wedged in the South ? And the devil was at the elbow 
of these preachers of * Christian politics,' to tell them precisely 
how. [Cat-calls, derisive cheers, and other manifestations of 
the Know-Nothing element of the meeting.] There were three 
elements in the South, and in Virginia particularly, to which 
they might apply themselves. There is the religious element 
— the Protestant bigotry and fanaticism (for Protestants, gen- 
tlemen, have their religious zeal without knowledge as well as 
the Catholics). [A voice, 'True enough, sir.'] It is an appeal 
to the 103,000 Presbyterians, to the 30,000 Baptists, to the 
300,000 Methodists of Virginia. Well, how were they to reach 
them ? Why, just by raising a hell of a fuss about the Pope. 
[Laughter.] The Pope ! The Pope, ' now so poor that none 



I40 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

can do him reverence,' so poor that Louis Napoleon, who re- 
quires every soldier in his kingdom to be at Sebastopol, has to 
leave a guard of muskets at Rome ! Once on a time crowned 
heads could bow down and kiss his big toe, but now who cares 
for a Pope in Italy ? Gentlemen, the Pope is here. Priestcraft 
at home is what you have to dread more than all the Popes in 
the world. I believe, intellectually, and in my heart as well as 
my head, in evangelical Christianity. I believe that there is no 
other certain foundation for this Republic but the pure and un- 
defiled religion of Jesus Christ of Nazareth; and the man of 
God who believes in the Father, in the divinity of the Son and 
the Holy Ghost ; the preacher in the pulpit, at the baptismal 
font, by the sick-bed, at the grave, pointing 

* The way to heaven and leading there,' 
I honor; no man honors him more than I do. But the priest 
who deserts the spiritual kingdom for the carnal kingdom, he is 
' of the earth, earthy.' Whoever he be — Episcopalian, Baptist, 
or Methodist — who leaves the pulpit to join a dark-lantern, se- 
cret political society, in order that he may become a Protestant 
Pope by seizing on political power, he is a hypocrite, whoever 
he be. [Some applause, and cries of ' Good.'] Jesus Christ of 
Nazareth settled the question himself. I have his authority 
on this question. When the Jews expected him to put on a 
prince's crown and seat himself on the actual throne of David, 
he asked for a penny to be shown him. A penny was brought 
to him, a metal coin, assayed, clipped, stamped with the image 
of the State's representative of the civil power, stamped with 
Caesar's image. 'Whose is this image and superscription?' 'It 
is Caesar's.' * Then render unto Caesar the things which are 
Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's.' [Applause.] 
' My kingdom is not of this world. My kingdom is a spiritual 
kingdom.' Caesar's kingdom is political — is a carnal kingdom. 
And I tell you that if I stood alone in the State of Virginia, and 
if priestcraft — if the priests of my own mother- Church — dared 



KNOW-NOTHINGISM. I41 

to lay their hands on the political power of our people, or to 
use their churches to wield political influence, I would stand, 
in feeble imitation of, it may be, but I would stand, even if I 
stood alone, as Patrick Henry stood in the Revolution, between 
the parsons and the people. [Applause, and a cry, * I'm with 
you.'] I want no Pope, either Catholic or Protestant. I will 
pay Peter's pence to no Pontiff, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Bap- 
tist, Methodist, or any other. [Applause, and cries of 'Good.'] 
They not only appeal to the religious element, but they raise a 
cry about the Pope. These men — many of them are neither 
Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Baptists, Methodists, Congrega- 
tionalists, Lutherans, or what not — who are men of no religion, 
who have no Church, who do not say their prayers, who do not 
read their Bible, who live God-defying lives every day of their 
existence — are now seen with faces as long as their dark-lan- 
terns, with the whites of their e3^es turned up in holy fear lest 
the Bible should be shut up by the Pope ! [Laughter, applause, 
and derisive cheers.] Men who were never known before, on 
the face of God's earth, to show any interest in religion, to take 
any part with Christ or his kingdom, who were the devil's own, 
belonging to the devil's church, are all of a sudden very deeply 
interested for the Word of God and against the Pope ! It would 
be well for them that they joined a Church which does believe 
in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost. [' Good.'] 
Let us see, my friends, what Know-Nothingism believes in. Do 
you know that, gentlemen ? 

" But, gentlemen, these Know-Nothings appeal not only to 
the religious element, but to the pohtical element; not only to 
the political element, but to the agrarian element. Not only do 
they appeal to Protestant bigotry ; not only do they ask Prot- 
estants to out-Herod Herod, to out-Catholic the Catholics, to 
out-Jesuit the Jesuists by adopting their Machiavelian creed, 
but they appeal to a forlorn party in the State of Virginia — a 
minority party— broken down at home and disorganized, be- 



142 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

cause their associates have become abolitionized at the North 
— they appeal to them as affording them a house of refuge. 
[Cheers and laughter.] There is a paper published in this 
town by one of the most respectable gentlemen of the State, 
who some time ago published an article which I must confess I 
did not expect to see in print from his pen. The Alexandria 
Gazette, one of the most respectable of the Whig papers of the 
United States, edited by one of the most conservative and re- 
spectable gentlemen that I know of among my acquaintances, 
one who has been advocating the doctrines and practice of con- 
servatism ever since I knew him, is now proposing a fusion be- 
tween the Know-Nothing and the Whig parties, simply for the 
reason that ' the Whigs are tired of standing at the rack with- 
out fodder.' [A voice in the crowd, ' Oh, go along,' and laugh- 
ter.] One who used (as I well remember) to denounce corrup- 
tion and the spoils very sweepingly, is now actually maintaining 
that the Whigs will not and can not go upon principle any 
longer and adhere to conservatism, because they are tired of 
waiting for office. 

"And, sir, before George Washington was born, before La- 
fayette wielded the sword, or Charles Carroll the pen of his 
country, six hundred and fort}^ years ago, on the i6th of June, 
1 2 14, there was another scene enacted on the face of the globe, 
when the general charter of all charters of freedom was gained, 
when one man — a man called Stephen Langton — swore the 
barons of England, for the people, against the orders of the 
Pope and against the powers of the King — swore the barons on 
the high altar of the Catholic church at St. Edmundsbury, that 
they would have Magna Charta or die for it — the charter which 
secures to every one of you to-day the trial by jury, freedom of 
press, freedom of pen, the confronting of witnesses with the ac- 
cused, and the opening of secret dungeons. That charter was 
obtained by Stephen Langton against the Pope and against the 
King of England, and if you Know-Nothings do not know who 



VIRGINIAN ORATORY. I43 

Stephen Langton was, you know nothing, sure enough. [Laugh- 
ter and cheers.] He was a Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury. 
[Renewed cheers.] I come here not to praise the Catholics, 
but I come here to acknowledge historical truths, and to ask of 
Protestants, What has heretofore been the pride and boast of 
Protestants? Tolerance of opinions in religious faith, [Ap- 
plause.] All we ask is tolerance. All we ask is that, if you ' 
hate the Catholics because they have proscribed heretics, you 
won't out-proscribe proscription. If you hate the Catholics be- 
cause they have nunneries and monasteries, and Jesuitical se- 
cret orders, don't out-Jesuit the Jesuits by going into dark-lan- 
tern secret chambers to apply test oaths. If you hate the 
Catholics because you say they encourage the Machiavelian 
expediency of telling lies sometimes, don't swear yourselves not 
to tell the truth. 

" If you place me with your sword in hand by that great pil- 
lar of Virginia sovereignty, I promise you to bear and forbear 
to the last extremity. I will suffer much, suffer long, suffer al- 
most any thing but dishonor. But it is, in my estimation, with 
the union of the States as it is with the union of matrimony — 
you may suffer almost any thing except dishonor; but when 
honor is touched the union must be dissolved. [Loud and pro- 
longed cheers.] I will not say that ; I take back the words. I 
will not allow myself to contemplate a dissolution of the Union. 
[Renewed cheering.] No; we will still try to save it. But 
when the worst comes to worst, if compelled to draw the sword 
of Virginia, I will draw it ; and, by the gods of the State and 
her holy altars, if I am compelled to draw it, I will flesh it or it 
shall pierce my body. [Enthusiastic cheering.] And I tell you 
more, we have got Abolitionists in this State. [Voice in the 
crowd, 'D—n the Know-Nothings,' and great laughter.] If I 
should have to move, some of the first, I fear, against whom I 
should have to act would be some within our own limits. But 
if forced to fight, I will not confine myself to the State of Vir- 
ginia. My motto will be : 



144 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

" ' Woe to the coward that ever he was born, 

That did not draw the sword before he blew the horn.' 

[Loud cheers.]" 

Mr. Levin died, as I have stated, in March of i860, in his 
fifty-second year, but Henry A. Wise is still living in his sixty- 
fifth. His has been a stormy experience. He graduated at 
Washington College, Pennsylvania, at the age of nineteen, was 
admitted to the bar at Winchester, Virginia, in 1828, and re- 
moved the same year to Nashville, Tennessee, where he prac- 
ticed his profession for a short time. Returning to his native 
county of Accomac, Virginia, he was elected a Representative 
in Congress in 1833, and served until 1844. He was an ex- 
treme Whig up to the time John Tyler quarreled with that party, 
after which he gradually united with the Democrats, and in 
1855 became their candidate for Governor of Virginia and was 
elected. He held that position until i860. He was a Con- 
federate brigadier-general, and did his utmost to excite the peo- 
ple of the South against the Government. The extract I take 
from his speech is a fair specimen of his oratory. Intense, im- 
petuous, and rapid, he is a very formidable adversary on the 
hustings and at the bar. His opposition to General Jackson 
was exceedingly virulent and able. He figured prominently in 
the lamentable duel at Bladensburg, Maryland, on the 24th 
of February, 1838, between Jonathan Cilley, of Maine, a Dem- 
ocrat, and William J. Graves, of Kentucky, a Whig. Few events 
ever excited greater horror. It was the first of many tragedies 
growing out of the arrogant insolence of the slaveholders. They 
fought with rifles, at eighty yards, and when Cilley fell, in the 
thirty-sixth year of his age, a bright light was extinguished and 
a noble heart stilled. Wise was the undoubted dictator of the 
Tyler Administration. Standing between the two great parties 
in the House, he delighted in his isolation and rioted in the ec- 
centricities of his genius. Sent as Minister to Brazil in 1844, 
and remaining there until 1847, he made himself notorious by 



POLITICS AND RELIGION. 145 

some of the maddest diplomatic explosions. He had been ap- 
pointed Minister to France in 1843, and resigned his place to 
accept the post, but the Senate would not confirm him, and his 
constituency immediately returned him to Congress. He was 
Governor of Virginia when John Brown was executed, and 
made the worst use of that event in preparing the people for 
the coming rebellion. He lost one or two sons in that struggle, 
and is now, I believe, in the active practice of his profession. 

The fatal error in the Native American and Know-Nothing 
excitements was that the first warred against all Catholics, and 
the second against all foreigners. We must wait to see how the 
present assault by Irish Catholics upon Irish Protestants will 
end. It is a new phase, and must work out new results, es- 
pecially in view of late developments in Italy, France, Germany, 
and Spain, in all of which Republican members of the Church 
of Rome, like Hyacinthe in France, Garibaldi in Italy, Bol- 
linger in Germany, and Castelar in Spain, have taken arms 
boldly against the extraordinary assumptions of the Pope and 
his College of Cardinals. Dollinger is already being called the 
Luther of his time, and Garibaldi is the soldier who fights for 
liberty in the name of the crucified Saviour. 

Should this movement crystallize, it may revolutionize by lib- 
eralizing the Catholic Church. Let us not despise these signs 
of the times. They are numerous. The past history of the 
American sentiment is a profound philosophy — worthy of the 
statesman's careful study. The appointment of so many foreign- 
ers in New York by the Democratic party in the spring of 1844 
was so odious that the Native Americans carried that great city 
in all its departments, electing James Harper (the venerable 
head of the publishing house of that name, now deceased) 
Mayor, and carrying the Board of Aldermen. The contagion 
then spread to Philadelphia, when Levin took up the cause, 
and, as I have shown, carried it to a great success. Defeated 
for a season, it is again revived by causes that have a deeper 

G 



146 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

root and extend over the whole area of civilization. How these 
will germinate and grow, whether into a creed or a faction, into 
a great mission or a new mischief, is one of the mysteries of 
the age. 

[July 30, 1871.] 



r 



XXX. 

How to win friends and keep them is the secret of a success- 
ful public man. Andrew Jackson possessed it, without abso- 
lutely courting the people. His strict integrity, generous nat- 
ure, high honor, military character and history, were the chief 
elements of his prestige. Henry Clay possessed and knew how 
to use it. His charms were unrivaled eloquence, supreme am- 
bition, innate patriotism, commanding presence, and magnet- 
ism of men and women. John Quincy Adams, Martin Van 
Buren, and James Buchanan were cold and formal men, who 
inspired admiration by their talents, but never awakened real 
affection. Abraham Lincoln captured every body by seeming 
to be indifferent to the very qualities in which he was eminent. 
His simplicity and naturalness, so to speak, were resistless. 
But no character, certainly no candidate for our highest office, 
was a completer master of the gift of securing tenacious friends 
than Stephen A. Douglas. He had scarcely touched the floor 
of Congress before he became an object of interest. His ex- 
treme youth, his boyish appearance, his ready wit, his fine 
memory, his native rhetoric, above all, his suavity and heart- 
iness, made him a favorite long before he was named for Pres- 
ident. He delighted in pleasant company. Unused to what is 
called "etiquette," he soon adapted himself to its rules, and 
took rank in the dazzling society of the capital. Many a time 
have I watched him leading in the keen encounters of the 



SENATOR McDOUGALL. 1 47 

bright intellects around the festive board. To see him thread- 
ing the glittering crowd with a pleasant smile or a kind word 
for every body, one would have taken him for a trained court- 
ier. But he was more at home in the close and exciting thicket 
of men. That was his element. To call each one by name, 
sometimes by his Christian name ; to stand in the centre of a 
listening throng, while he told some Western story or defended 
some public measure ; to exchange jokes with a political adver- 
sary ; or, ascending the rostrum, to hold thousands spell-bound 
for hours, as he poured forth torrents of characteristic elo- 
quence — these were traits that raised up for him hosts who 
were ready to fight for him. Eminent men did not hesitate to 
take their stand under the Douglas flag. Riper scholars than 
himself, older if not better statesmen, frankly acknowledged 
his leadership and faithfully followed his fortunes. 

But among them all none came into Congress more devoted- 
ly attached to Douglas than James A. McDougall, who died 
shortly after the close of his term as a Senator in Congress 
from California. Born at Bethlehem, New York, on the 19th 
of November, 18 17, he removed to Pike County, Illinois, when 
he was just twenty years of age, and when Stephen A. Douglas 
was registrar of the Land Office in that State. There was four 
years' difference between the men, and they loved each other 
like brothers. McDougall was chosen Attorney-General of 
the State in 1842, and re-elected in 1844. In 1849 he origi- 
nated and accompanied an exploring expedition to Rio del 
Norte, Gila, and Colorado ; afterward emigrated to California, 
where he followed his profession until he was chosen Attorney- 
General of that State in 1850. He was sent to Congress for 
one term, from 1853 to 1855, but declined a re-election, and re- 
mained out of public life until he was made a Senator in Con- 
gress in 1861, the term of which he served out. He entered 
the Senate as a War Democrat of the advanced school, and 
was for a while the representative of the ideas for which Brod- 



148 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

erick fell at the hands of Terry in 1859. He advocated the 
extremest measures against the rebellion, and sustained the 
Lincoln Administration. But as the excitement grew, and 
sterner measures were demanded, he gradually fell back into 
the ranks of the old Democracy, and died in that faith. It can 
be no irreverence to his memory to say that James A. McDou- 
gall would have been living now if he had not yielded to the 
destroyer. When I first saw him in 1853, as a Representative 
from California, he was the picture of health and strength. 
Public life, with all its fascinations, was too much for him. 
Generous to a fault, unusually disinterested, the enemy of all 
corruption, he had the material for a long and useful life. Had 
he not discarded the opportunities in his path, and surrendered 
to the allurements around him, he might have been still among 
us. Unlike some in the same body, McDougall rarely forgot 
his place. If he committed excesses, it was outside the Senate 
chamber. Every body loved him. I think he had not a per- 
sonal enemy, and those who opposed him poHtically admired 
his genius and deplored his weakness. Some of his arguments 
were specimens of complete logic. He was an adept in the 
law. He seldom forgot an authority, and his opinion on the 
gravest questions was frequently sought and followed. Well 
versed in the classics, familiar with ancient and modern po- 
etry, his tastes, whether of books or men, were always refined. 
One of his last speeches is that which follows, pronounced from 
his seat in the Senate on the nth of April, 1866, on the prop- 
osition of Senator Wilson, of Massachusetts, to prohibit the 
sale of liquor in the Capitol building. It is given exactly as 
it fell from his lips, and is a sad explanation of the cause which 
called him too early from life to death, and of his peculiar hab- 
its of thought at a period when he seemed to have entirely 
abandoned all hope of self-redemption : 

" Mr. President : It was once said that there are as many 
minds as men, and there is no end to wrangling. I had oc- 



USE AND ABUSE. I49 

casion some years since to discourse with a reverend doctor of 
divinity from the State which has the honor to be the birth- 
place, I think, of the president of this body. While I was dis- 
coursing with him a lot of vile rapscallions invited me to join 
them at the bar. I declined, out of respect to the reverend 
gentleman in whose presence I then was. As soon as the oc- 
casion had passed, I remarked to the reverend doctor: 'Do 
not understand that I decline to go and join those young men 
at the bar because I have any objections to that thing, for it is 
my habit to drink always in the front and not behind the door.' 
He looked at me with a certain degree of interrogation. I 
then asked him, ' Doctor, what was the first miracle worked by 
our great Master?' He hesitated, and I said to him, 'Was it 
not at Cana, in Galilee, where he converted the water into wine 
at a marriage feast ?' He assented. I asked him then, ' After 
the ark had floated on the tempestuous seas for forty days and 
nights, and as it descended upon the dry land, what was the 
first thing done by Father Noah?' He said he did not know 
that exactly: 'Well,' said I, 'did he not plant a vine?' Yes, 
he remembered it then. 

" I asked him, ' Do you remember any great poet that ever 
illustrated the higher fields of humanity that did not dignify 
the use of wine, from old Homer down ?' He did not. I 
asked, ' Do you know any great philosopher that did not use it 
for the exaltation of his intelligence ? Do you think. Doctor, 
that a man who lived upon pork and beef and corn-bread could 
get up into the superior regions — into the ethereal ?' No, he 

must 

" ' Take nectar on high Olympus, 

And mighty mead in Valhalla.' 

" I said to him again : ' Doctor, you are a scholarly man, of 
course — a doctor of divinity, a graduate of Yale ; do you re- 
member Plato's Symposium?' Yes, he remembered that. I 
referred him to the occasion when Agatho, having won the 



150 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

prize of Tragedy at the Olympic games at Corinth, on coming 
back to Athens was feted by the nobihty and aristocracy of 
that city, for it was a proud triumph to Athens to win the prize 
of Tragedy. They got together at the house of Phsedrus, and 
they said, ' Now, we have been every night for these last six 
nights drunk; let us be sober to-night, and we will start a 
theme,' which they passed around the table as the sun goes 
round, or as they drank their wine, or as men tell a story. They 
started a theme, and the theme was love — not love in the vul- 
gar sense, but love in the high sense — love of all that is beauti- 
ful. After they had gone through, and after Socrates had pro- 
nounced his judgment about the true and beautiful, in came 
Alcibiades with a drunken body of Athenian boys, with gar- 
lands around their heads to crown Agatho and crown old Soc- 
rates, and they said to those assembled : ' This will not do ; we 
have been drinking, and you have not 3' and after Alcibiades 
had made his talk in pursuance of the argument, in which he 
undertook to dignify Socrates, as I remember it, they required 
(after the party had agreed to drink, it being quite late in the 
evening, and they had finished their business in the way of dis- 
cussion) .that Socrates should drink two measures for every 
other man's one, because he was better able to stand it. And 
so, one after another, they were laid down on the lounges in 
the Athenian style, all except an old physician named Aristo- 
demus, and Plato makes him the hardest-headed fellow except 
Socrates. He and Socrates stuck at it until the gray of the 
morning, and then Socrates took his bath and went down to 
the groves and talked academic knowledge. 

" After citing this incident, I said to this divine : ' Do you re- 
member that Lord Bacon said that a man should get drunk at 
least once a month, and that Montaigne, the French philoso- 
pher, indorsed the proposition ?' 

" These exaltants that bring us up above the common meas- 
ure of the brute — wine and oil — elevate us, enable us to seize 



GERRITT SMITH. 151 

great facts, inspirations which, once possessed, are ours forever ; 
and those who never go beyond the mere beastly means of an- 
imal support never live in the high planes of life, and can not 
achieve them. 

" I believe in women, wine, whisky, and war." 
Let us not, with this curious specimen of his last ideas, judge 
harshly of James A. McDougall ; let us rather sympathize with 
his weakness, and remember him for those qualities of heart 
and head which, with a little self-restraint, would have made 
him a shining light in the councils of the nation. 

As showing how tranquillity and good temper promote hap- 
piness and long life, turn to the contrasting character of Gerritt 
Smith, of New York, who came into Congress with McDougall 
in 1853, and went out with him in 1855. Gerritt Smith was 
born in Utica, New York, March 6, 1797, and is therefore in 
his seventy-fifth year. He is living at Peterboro, New York, in 
fine health. I saw him several months ago in AVashington, the 
picture of ripe, vigorous, well-preserved old age. The possessor 
of immense wealth, which he distributes with princely generos- 
ity, he delighted in gathering men of opposite opinions, and 
especially the Southern leaders, to his dinner parties. His 
handsome face and elegant manners, his kind heart, native wit, 
and graceful hospitality were made strangely attractive by the 
fact that he never allowed a drop of wine or liquor at his enter- 
tainments. Every thing else was in profusion, and it was amus- 
ing to hear the comments of those who never knew what it was 
to accept an invitation without anticipating copious draughts 
of champagne, sherry, or madeira. Bold and manly in his op- 
position to slavery in all its forms, a powerful speaker, a consci- 
entious legislator, he mingled with the extreme men of the South 
like a friend. Combating what he believed to be their heresies, 
he extended as free a toleration to them as he demanded for 
himself When he met McDougall first, the latter was one of 
the promising men in the nation ; and I doubt not, when his 



152 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

career was prematurely closed, no one mourned him more or 
made a more generous allowance for his frailties than Gerritt 
Smith, of New York. 
[August 6, 1 87 1.] 



XXXI. 

John Slidell's death freshens a memory that ought to live 
forever — the memory of the short and last session of the Thirty- 
sixth Congress — when the work of secession preceded the work 
of rebellion. What was said in those short three months would 
fill many volumes ; what was done after them filled hundreds 
of thousands of graves. The defiance of Wigfall, now in a 
foreign land ; the threats of Jefferson Davis, now utterly de- 
spised by his former followers ; the prolonged plea for treason 
of Clingman, of North Carolina, now in safe obscurity ; the 
vulgar abuse of Jim Lane, of Oregon, now utterly out of sight 
— were nothing to the speech of Senator Slidell, of Louisiana, 
on the 4th of February, 1861, after he presented the ordinance 
of secession adopted by the Legislature of that State. I allude 
to it, not by way of reproach, but to point the solemn moral of 
a tragedy which began with so many loud prophecies of success 
from the wrong-doers, and ended in such a complete catastro- 
phe of their hopes and plans. A few passages will therefore be 
useful : 

"We have no idea that you will ever attempt to invade our 
soil with your armies ; but we acknowledge your superiority on 
the sea, at present, in some degree, accidental, but in the main 
natural and permanent, until we shall have acquired better 
ports for our marine. You may, if you will it, persist in con- 
sidering us bound to you during your good pleasure ; you may 
deny the sacred and indefeasible right, we will not say of seces- 



JOHN SLIDELL. 1 53 

sion, but of revolution — aye, of rebellion, if you choose so to call 
"our action — the right of every people to establish for itself that 
form of government which it may, even in its folly, if such you 
deem it, consider best calculated to secure its safety and pro- 
mote its welfare. You may ignore the principles of our immor- 
tal Declaration of Independence ; you may attempt to reduce 
us to subjection, or you may, under color of enforcing your laws 
or collecting your revenue, blockade our ports. This will be 
war, and we shall meet it, with different but equally efficient 
weapons. We will not permit the consumption or introduction 
of any of your manufactures ; every sea will swarm with our 
volunteer militia of the ocean, with the striped bunting floating 
over their heads, for we do not 7nean to give up that flag without 
a bloody struggle — it is ours as much as yours ; and although for 
a time more stars may shine on your banner, our children, if 
not we, will rally under a constellation more numerous and 
more resplendent than yours. You may smile at this as an 
impotent boast, at least for the present, if not for the future ; 
but if we need ships and men for privateering, we shall be amply 
supplied from the same sources as now almost exclusively fur- 
nish the means for carrying on with such unexampled vigor the 
African slave-trade — New York and New England. Your mer- 
cantile marine must either sail under foreign flags or rot at your 
wharves. 

" But enough, perhaps somewhat too much, of this. We de- 
sire not to speak to you in terms of bravado or menace. Let us 
treat each other as men, who, determined to break ofl"unpleasant, 
incompatible, and unprofitable relations, cease to bandy words, 
and mutually leave each other to determine whether their differ- 
ences shall be decided by blows or by the code, which some of us 
still recognize as that of honor. We shall do with you as the 
French Guards did with the English at the battle of Fontenoy. 
In a preliminary skirmish, the French and English Guards met 
face to face ; the English Guards courteously saluted their adver- 

G 2 



154 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

saries by taking off their hats ; the French Guards returned the 
salute with equal courtesy. Lord Hay, of the English Guards, 
cried out, in a loud voice, ' Gentlemen of the French Guards, 
fire !' Count d'Auteroche replied in the same tone, ' Gentle- 
men, we never fire first !' The English took them at their 
word, and did fire first. Being at close quarters, the effect was 
very destructive, and the French were for a time thrown into 
disorder; but the fortunes of the day were soon restored by the 
skill and courage of Marshal Saxe, and the English, under the 
Duke of Cumberland, suffered one of the most disastrous de- 
feats which their military annals record. Geiitlenwi^ we will not 
fire first. 

" Senators, six States have now severed the links that bound 
them to a Union to which we were all attached, as well by many 
ties of material well-being as by the inheritance of common 
glories in the past, and the well-founded hopes of still more 
brilliant destinies in the future. Twelve seats are now vacant 
on this floor. The work is only yet begun. It requires no 
spirit of prophecy to point to many, many chairs around us that 
will soon, like ours, be unfilled ; and if the weird sisters of the 
great dramatic poet could here be conjured up, they would pre- 
sent to the affrighted vision of those on the other side of the 
chamber, who have so largely contributed to 'the deep dam- 
nation of this taking off,' a ' glass to show them many more.' 
They who have so foully murdered the Constitution and the 
Union will find, when too late, like the Scottish Thane, that 
'for Banquo's issue they have filed their minds;' 'they have 
but placed upon their heads a fruitless crown, and put a barren 
sceptre in their gripe, no son of theirs succeeding.' 

" In taking leave of the Senate, while we shall carry with us 
many agreeable recollections of intercourse, social and ofiicial, 
with gentlemen who have differed with us on this, the great 
question of the age, we would that we could, in fitting language, 
express the mingled feelings of admiration and regret with which 



A VALEDICTORY. 1 55 

we look back to our associations on this floor with many of our 
Northern colleagues. They have, one after the other, fallen in 
their heroic struggle against a blind fanaticism, until now but 
few — alas! how few — remain to fight the battle of the Consti- 
tution. Several even of these will terminate their official career 
in one short month, and will give place to men holding opinions 
diametrically opposite, which have recommended them to the 
suffrages of their States. Had we remained here, the same fate 
would have awaited, at the next election, the four or five last 
survivors of that gallant band ; but now we shall carry with us 
at least this one consoling reflection — our departure, realizing 
all their predictions of ill to the Republic, opens a new era of 
triumph for the Democratic party of the North, and will, we 
firmly believe, re-establish its lost ascendency in most of the 
non-slaveholding States." 

It is hard to believe that the author of these sentiments was 
born and lived to manhood in the North, and that all this hate 
and scorn should have been cherished by one who ought to 
have been filled with gratitude to a government that had so 
long protected and so frequently honored him. Yet these are 
very characteristic words. They describe the man like a pho- 
tograph. He had really come to despise his native section, and 
the feeling finally so absorbed him that he would consort with 
none who did not agree with him about slavery. He made his 
own ideas the test in all cases, grading his likes and dislikes 
by the favor or disfavor with which these ideas were received. 
His animosity to Douglas, Broderick, and — while he was on the 
right side — to Andrew Johnson, was intense and unnatural ; 
while to those who opposed Buchanan and his Lecompton 
treachery in 1858, he showed no mercy. 

The curious part of the above extract is the unconscious trib- 
ute to the old flag and the promise "not to fire first ;" and yet 
in a litde more than two months the rebellion had not only 
adopted a new flag, but authoritatively began the war by firing 



156 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

upon ours ! Not less mistaken was his idea that the withdrawal 
of the main body of the Democratic party from Congress would 
be the very best plan to give to that which was left the control 
of the North. 

Mr. Slidell was a man of the world and a scheming politi- 
cian, yet never a statesman. He had some reputation as a law- 
yer, but not as an advocate or pleader. Few men had more 
influence over James Buchanan, and none did so much to mis- 
lead that ill-starred President. His rule was implacable hostil- 
ity to all who did not agree with him. He was faithful to those 
who followed him, but his prejudices always dominated his 
friendships. He had undoubted courage, but his mistake was 
a belief that the best way to adjust a dispute was by an appeal 
to the "code of honor." Born in New York in 1793, he did 
not adopt Louisiana as his home till he had passed his majori- 
ty; but he soon rose to leadership in the Democratic party. 
He was successively United States District Attorney, member 
of the State Legislature, Representative in Congress, Minister 
to Mexico, and United States Senator. It is easy to under- 
stand, upon reading his speech, how well qualified he was for 
the Confederate service. He had some diplomatic experience, 
spoke French fluently, had been much in foreign countries, and 
was perhaps the very man to make Louis Napoleon the ally of 
Jefferson Davis. But he made slow progress on his mission. 
He was constantly baffled — the prey of false promises and un- 
dying remorse. His capture by Captain Wilkes of the San ya- 
cinto and his imprisonment in Fort Warren were not auguries 
of a fortunate career ; and, doubtless, when he saw his proud 
predictions disappointed, his State captured by the despised 
Yankees, his associates beaten on land and sea, and the Dem- 
ocratic party every where utterly broken, he was not sorry to 
hear the last call. His associate commissioner, James M. Ma- 
son, of Virginia, preceded him to the final rest by a very few 
months. His colleague, J. P. Benjaniin, who with him. left the 



AN EVENTFUL ERA. I 57 

Senate on the same 4th of Februaiy, 186 1, is a barrister before 
the London courts, and is now a foreigner, as he was before he 
became naturaUzed under the laws of a country he sought to 
destroy. The man he most disliked in Louisiana, poor Pierre 
Soule, the brilliant and superficial Frenchman, passed away 
after the saddest closing years. His friend Howell Cobb has 
gone. His confrere, Jesse D. Bright, has left Indiana to become 
a member of the Kentucky Legislature. And James Buchanan 
sleeps his last sleep in the Lancaster cemetery. It is certain 
that Mr. Slidell desired to lay his bones among his kindred in 
America. He tired of life in Paris, wealthy as he was in his 
own right and in the success of his connections ; but for some 
reason the efforts of his friends to make his return easy were 
not persisted in, and in his seventy-eighth year he died in a 
strange land. 

[August 13, 1871.] 



XXXH. 

Between December, i860, and the 19th of April, 1861, was 
crowded a series of events which, carefully preserved, would 
have constituted many chapters of absorbing interest. But 
neither side believed entirely in the absolute certainty of hostil- 
ities ; few were sufficiently composed to keep a regular diary 
outside the daily printed reports, and these, at least at the im- 
mediate theatre of operations, the nation's capital, were rela- 
tively inferior to the full and exact reflections of the doings of 
the world in the newspapers of these times. Some persons did, 
perhaps, journalize their experience, but much that entered into 
the real history of the period can only be rescued from oblivion 
by utilizing unrecorded memories. I recollect that as early as 
December, i860, I called upon the people of Pennsylvania to 



158 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

put themselves in the condition of armed assistance to the Gov- 
ernment. For this letter I was severely censured as an alarm- 
ist. The most sagacious men did not give up the hope of rec- 
onciliation. Mr. Lincoln's inaugural, conceived in the best 
Christian spirit, was easily construed into a prayer for compro- 
mise ; and one of the most thoughtful speeches of Judge Doug- 
las, in which he contended that the difficulties could be amica- 
bly arranged, was inspired by that inaugural. In recurring to 
my letters of March, 1861, 1 find myself busily seconding these 
efforts. The firing upon Sumter, on the -fT^th of April, how- 
ever, dissipated all these expectations, and men began to 
look for the worst. From that day Baltimore city became an 
obedient echo of the agitation throughout the South. Lying 
directly across the great highway leading to Washington, it was 
soon evident that no troops could be sent to the defense of the 
latter without danger. But even then few persons were willing 
to admit that the pro-slavery mob of the city would dare to at- 
tack the soldiers on their way to the immediate scene of peril. 
Among these was Charles Sumner, Senator in Congress from 
Massachusetts, who relates an incident that typifies the prevail- 
ing sentiment in Baltimore, and his own characteristic firmness 
and self-reliance. At noon on the i8th of April, 1861, he 
bought a ticket at Washington for Baltimore, and arriving there, 
entered his full name on the books of Barnum's Hotel. Prefer- 
ring a quiet hour, he crossed the street and ordered an early 
dinner at Guy's Monument House, always famous for its good 
fare, and a favorite resort of the celebrities when they visited 
the Monumental City. Dinner over, he called on a New En- 
gland friend and resident, remained to tea, and then returned 
through a by-street to Barnum's, entering at the side door. In 
the hall he met a gentleman who seemed much excited by his 
presence, and anxious for his safety. Conscious of his own 
rectitude, he walked up to the office and demanded the key of 
his room, to which he was soon followed by the proprietor of 



SENATOR SUMNER IN BALTIMORE. 1 59 

the hotel, the late lamented Zenos Barnum, and anodier gen- 
tleman. There he was informed that the fact of his being in 
the house had obtained publicity, and that a large and angry 
crowd was outside threatening violence and demanding his life. 
His answer was that he felt perfectly secure as long as he was 
under that roof, and that he would hold the proprietors respon- 
sible for any outrage that might be attempted upon him. Mr. 
Barnum did not conceal his apprehensions alike for his great 
establishment and for the safety of his guest. Under his ad- 
vice Mr. Sumner consented to remove to a more inaccessible 
room, where he remained for some time, discussing the situa- 
tion of the country with his kind-hearted and generous host. 
He could distinctly hear the threatenings of the surging mob 
outside, and he felt that there was little doubt that nothing was 
needed but the opportunity to stimulate them to the wildest vi- 
olence. Baltimore w^as completely in the hands of reckless and 
blood-thirsty men. They thought the Government powerless. 
Freedom of opinion was only tolerated on one side. The news- 
papers, with the exception of the Baltimore American, added 
fuel to the fire, and Union men were constrained to silence to 
save person and property. The nation's capital was almost en- 
tirely unprotected, and, although the North was at last rous- 
ing to a full sense of the public peril, as yet no troops had gone 
forward in response to the call of the Executive. Acting under 
the advice and the exhortations of Mr. Barnum, Mr. Sumner 
rose early on the morning of the 19th, and in a private carriage 
crossed the then quiet streets of the city to the Philadelphia 
station, where he entered the first train eastward, reaching 
Philadelphia in a few hours. On the way, and I think at 
Havre-de-Grace, he met the men of the 6th Massachusetts go- 
ing South, and saw their happy faces and heard their joyous 
shouts. When he got to Philadelphia he found the streets 
crowded with people discussing the crisis. To get exact infor- 
mation, he called at the ofBce of The Press, 413 Chestnut Street, 



l6o ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

near Fourth, where he met Mr. J. G. L. Brown, then as now my 
business manager, and learned for the first time the particu- 
lars of the attack upon the 6th Massachusetts on their way 
through Baltimore. Had he taken the train of the 19th in- 
stead of the 1 8th, he would undoubtedly have been among the 
first victims of the rebellion, and possibly Barnum's Hotel 
would have fallen before the infuriated fiends who were seeking 
for objects upon which to wreak their vengeance and their in- 
gratitude. 

Zenos Barnum is dead, but I can not withhold a tribute to his 
memory, nor refuse to recall the many happy hours I spent in 
his society, when he, McLaughlin, and Dorsey had charge of 
the old hotel, still one of the best in the South. In the days be- 
fore the war, when politics were not divided or disturbed by 
slavery, it was very agreeable to Northern men to stop over and 
enjoy its superior comforts, spacious rooms, unrivaled table, and 
really refined society. Every such visit was followed by an en- 
tertainment at Guy's Monumental House, where the men of 
both parties met in friendly consultation, and where Whigs and 
Democrats canvassed candidates, prepared platforms, and laid 
plans for future campaigns. 

Baltimore was for many years the chosen spot for political 
national conventions, and Barnum's and Guy's the head-quarters 
of the respective factions. It was in Baltimore that Martin Van 
Buren was nominated and renominated. It was in Baltimore 
where Joseph Holt, of Kentucky, thrilled the nation by an elec- 
tric speech in vindication of Richard M.Johnson, in 1840. It 
was in Baltimore that James K. Polk was nominated, in 1844. 
It was in Baltimore, in 1848, that Lewis Cass was nominated. 
It was in Baltimore that Franklin Pierce was nominated by the 
Democrats, and Winfield Scott by the Whigs, in 1852. It was 
in Baltimore that John C. Breckinridge was presented as the 
candidate of the slaveholders, and Stephen A. Douglas ratified 
as the candidate of the Independent Democracy, in i860. It 



BALTIMORE. l6l 

was in Baltimore that Abraham Lincoln was renominated for 
President in 1864, with Andrew Johnson as Vice-President. 

Perhaps it was the meeting of these quadrennial assemblages, 
their exciting debates, and the extreme personal animosities to 
which they gave rise, which made Baltimore the seat and centre 
of such persistent opposition to the Government when the war 
finally took place. In all these conflicts Zenos Barnum was 
never a partisan. He was the prince of good fellows, warmly 
welcoming his friends and making no enemies. I suspect he 
was an Old-line Whig in the days of Webster and Clay, but 
when the South resolved to take issue with the North, in 186 1, 
it was natural that he should sympathize with his own people ; 
yet, if he did, it was always with due regard to the feelings of 
others. As the war progressed, Baltimore became more than 
ever an important point to the Government, and the responsi- 
bilities of a hotel-keeper like Barnum, in the midst of an in- 
flammable community, were painfully increased. On one oc- 
casion the general in command of the Department closed the 
hotel, and Mr. Barnum came to Washington to ask me to inter- 
cede for him, which I did promptly and effectively, by appeal- 
ing to President Lincoln and Secretary Stanton. After the 
doors of the old hotel were reopened, I received from my good 
friend a letter abounding in grateful expressions. He regarded 
it as an unusual obligation, and I revive the circumstance now, 
not because I had a hand in relieving an innocent man from 
the follies of one or two of his youthful employes, but to show 
that the humane and gentle spirit which induced him to inter- 
fere to protect Charles Sumner from the cruelty of the pro- 
slavery mob was not forgotten in darker or more exciting times, 
either by himself or by the men in command of the Govern- 
ment at Washington. 

[August 21, 187 1.] 



1 62 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



XXXIII. 



Steam is your real revolutionist. It has altered the physical 
geography of the civilized world. It has bridged the seas, par- 
tially annihilated space and time, opened new highways into 
and redeemed the wilderness, neighbored far-distant States, 
converted old cities into new ones, changed deserted villages 
into thriving towns, leveled the forest, crossed chasms and con- 
nected mountains, and elevated skilled labor into a science. 
Imagination is baffled by its present, and vainly attempts to an- 
ticipate its future triumphs. But in nothing has steam so trans- 
formed the face of the country and the habits of the people as 
in the substitution of railroads for turnpikes. While I was pre- 
paring my last sketch, in which I recalled the genial Zenos 
Barnum, of Baltimore, to the thousands who knew him in by- 
gone days, the famous hotel and inn keepers of the past rose 
before me, with the stage-coach, the Conestoga wagon, and the 
ancient system of land transportation. Where are they now ? 
Who that has passed his half-century does not remember them 
with pleasure ? In my young manhood their decay had begun, 
but it requires no strong effort to revive the long train of can- 
vas-covered wagons passing through my native town on their 
way to and from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, carrying the pro- 
duce of the West in exchange for the merchandise of the East, 
with their hale, rough drivers, and their long leather whips, the 
coronal of bells on their horses, and their stoppage at the old 
taverns for food and water. They were to the more ostenta- 
tious stage-coach what the baggage train is to the lightning ex- 
press of the present day. 

And when these coaches dashed into Lancaster, and rushed 
down the streets, the driver winding a merry air on his horn, 
accompanied by the crack of his long whip, women, children, 
and dogs rushed out to greet the meteoric chariot as it drew up 



OLD-FASHIONED TRAVEL. 1 63 

with its foaming steeds at Slaymaker's old hotel, on East King 
Street, and began to throw off the mails, while the passengers 
alighted, thirsty, hungry, and covered with dust. It was the 
event of the day. Repeated at every other station and in every 
other town, it was one of a thousand similar pictures in other 
States and countries. Old England's great highways were made 
jocund with post-chaises, fast horses, daring drivers, uniformed 
guards, and jolly passengers. It was a favorite amusement for 
the nobility to mount the box and hold the reins with four 
in hand, and to course along the level roads, excelling in 
feats of daring drivership. They were as ambitious to lead in 
this sort of exercise as their descendants are in boat and foot 
races, in pugilistic encounters, and general gymnastics. Of 
these scenes the central figure was always the inn-keeper, who 
did not hold it beneath his dignity to stand in his doorway, en- 
girthed in his white apron, to " welcome the coming and speed 
the parting guest." That class is nearly extinct, though happily 
not forgotten. The old-fashioned publican aspired to be a gen- 
tleman, and was generally the associate of gentlemen, a con- 
noisseur of wines, a judge of horse-flesh, a critical caterer, and 
in politics so unexceptionally neutral that, when the probable 
votes of a town were estimated, it was generally " so many 
Whigs, so many Democrats, and so many tavern-keepers." 
These Sir Roger De Coverleys — for they were men of substance 
and hospitable to the extreme — have given way to a generation 
as different as the Conestoga wagon differs from the locomo- 
tive, the old stage-driver from the car-conductor, the railroad 
director from the stockholder of the turnpike company. They 
are the dilettanti of the hotels, and, like the Pontiff's robe, rare- 
ly seen and much wondered at. Living in gorgeous private 
residences, away from the splendid palaces which bear their 
names, they in fact vicariously feed, room, and care for more 
human beings in one day than the men of the past did in six 
months. One of these men was John Guy, who may be called 



164 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the hero of three cities — known ahke in Philadelphia, Balti- 
more, and Washington, though better appreciated in Baltimore. 
Born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, I believe, he was the 
founder of a family of unrivaled hotel-keepers. He still lives in 
Guy's, on Seventh Street, Philadelphia, now in course of reha- 
bilitation, and soon to expand into an ostentatious establish- 
ment on the European plan, and in the unequaled Monument 
House, nearly opposite Barnum's, in Baltimore. When I think 
of him I think also of Dorrance and Pope Mitchell of the 
United States Hotel, of Joseph Head of the Mansion House on 
Third Street, of Dunlap of the City Hotel, of Hartwell of the 
Washington House, and Jones of the old Jones Hotel, in 
Philadelphia; of Gadsby in Washington, Stetson of the Astor 
House, in New York, and many, many more. There is not a 
State in the Union, north or south, which could not furnish 
anecdotes of its representative inn-keepers, of their relations to 
public men — to Calhoun in South Corolina, to Webster in Mas- 
sachusetts, to Clay in Kentucky, to Sergeant S. Prentiss in Mis- 
sissippi, to George D. Prentice in Louisville, and to the lawyers, 
divines, and orators who for half a century dominated in those 
sections. If these Bonifaces could have kept records of their 
experience, what anecdotes they could relate of the giants of 
the past, of their private troubles, their public ambitions, their 
contrivances and their caucuses, their friends and their foes ! 
I knew many of them, and could relate many interesting inci- 
dents if I had space and time. 

Let me recall one in regard to this same John Guy, some- 
times told by my friend Dougherty, when we can win him to 
social familiarity and make him forget professional responsibil- 
ities. Guy bore a striking resemblance to General Lewis Cass, 
and while he was proprietor of the National Hotel, in Washing- 
ton, the Michigan Senator was among his favored guests. Guy 
dressed like Cass, and although not as portly, his face, inclu- 
ding the wart, was strangely similar. One day a Western friend 



LEWIS CASS AND JOHN GUY. 1 65 

of the house came in after a long ride, dusty and tired, and, 
walking up to the office, encountered General Cass, who was 
quietly standing there. Mistaking him for Guy, he slapped 
him on the shoulder, and exclaimed, " Well, old fellow, here I 
am; the last time I hung my hat up in your shanty, one of your 
clerks sent me to the fourth story ; but now that I have got hold 
of you, I insist upon a lower room." 

The General, a most dignified personage, taken aback by 
this startling salute, coldly replied: "You have committed a 
mistake, sir. I am not Mr. Guy ; I am General Cass, of Mich- 
igan," and angrily turned away. The Western man was shock- 
ed at the unconscious outrage he had committed ; but before 
he had recovered from his mortification, General Cass, who had 
passed around the office, confronted him again, when, a second 
time mistaking him for Guy, he faced him and said, " Here you 
are at last. I have just made a devil of a mistake ; I met old 
Cass and took him for you, and I am afraid the Michigander 
has gone off mad." What General Cass would have said may 
well be imagined, if the real Guy had not approached and res- 
cued the innocent offender from the twice-assailed and twice- 
angered statesman. 

[August 27, 1871.] 



XXXIV. 

Parallels or contrasts of character are the most useful of 
biographies. They are like studies of different pictures placed 
side by side. Take Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. 
Lincoln was almost untrained in statecraft. He had been post- 
master of a little town, had served four successive terms in the 
Legislature of Illinois, and one in Congress ; was the only Whig 
from Illinois from 1847 to 1849, taking his seat just as Douglas 



1 66 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

took his in the Senate. Looking through the debates, we find 
Lincohi among the most modest of members. His utterances 
were forcible and few. It is easy to detect the quaint humor 
that figured so prominently in his after actions, but there was 
no frequency or ostentation of speech. In the same body sat 
Andrew Johnson, the Democratic head of the delegation from 
Tennessee. Less than two years older than Lincoln, his mo- 
tions, measures, and spoken opinions would cover a hundred 
times the space allotted to his Illinois contemporary. Six years 
in the State Legislature, ten years in Congress, four years Gov- 
ernor, five years United States Senator, with several intermedi- 
ate positions, he was constantly aspiring to a higher station. 
How significantly the huge library of Andrew Johnson's talk 
compares with the litde casket of Lincoln's ideas ! The loud- 
ness and length of the one, the brevity and silence of the other. 
These two men were alike in one thing only : in the obscurity 
of their origin and in the hard toil of their early lives. In ev- 
ery other respect they were opposites. I will not imitate the 
sad business of impugning or doubting motives. Let us hope 
that both were honest, as indeed the just judgment of all classes 
and writers now concedes Abraham Lincoln to have been. But 
how differently they used their weapons! Lincoln, without 
seeming to aspire, reached the highest station in the world ; 
while Johnson, always reaching forth for the golden fruit, got 
it, and lost it in a fit of inconceivable madness. Abraham Lin 
coin died at the best moment for himself; Andrew Johnson 
lives to prove how great opportunities may be wasted. 

In many respects Abraham Lincoln had few parallels. He 
was most considerate of the feelings and deservings of others. 
I have related how, before I ever saw or knew him, he wrote 
me a letter, directly after his election in i860, thanking me for 
what he was pleased to call my services in resisting the pro- 
scriptions of the Buchanan Administration, and proffering a 
friendship which never abated. When the Baltimore Conven- 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 167 

tion, which renominated him for President, was about to meet, 
and Mr. Hamlin declined being a candidate for Vice-President 
in order that the Democratic element might be represented, Mr. 
Lincoln personally advocated Andrew Johnson, and was backed 
by Mr. Seward, who was, however, interested in the defeat of 
Daniel S. Dickinson, pressed for the same post by his oppo> 
nents in New York. Although Douglas defeated Lincoln for 
Senator in 1858, he gave him his confidence immediately after 
his inauguration, and never failed in generosity to his widow 
and children. When I was defeated for Clerk of the House in 
March, 186 1, he called in person upon a number of Senators 
and asked them to vote for me for Secretary of that body. 
When Stonewall Jackson was killed, and one of my assistant 
editors spoke kindly of the better part of his character, Abra- 
ham Lincoln wrote me commending the tribute to a brave ad- 
versary. If you visited Lincoln he never wearied you with 
dreary politics or heavy theories, or glorified himself or his do- 
ings. In every crisis he sought the advice, not of his enemies, 
but of his friends. To his convictions he was ever true, but his 
opinions were always subject to revision. He delighted in par- 
ables, and especially in the rude jokes of the South and the 
West. He hailed Artemus Ward and Petroleum Nasby as ben- 
efactors of the human race, and no witticism, whether delicate 
or broad, escaped his keen appreciation. He was, withal, a 
man of sentiment, reading Shakespeare like a philosopher, and 
remembering the best passages. A little poem written by Fran- 
cis De Haes Janvier, of Philadelphia, called " The Sleeping 
Sentinel," was an especial favorite; and "The Patriot's Oath" 
and " Sheridan's Ride," by Thomas Buchanan Read, were al- 
ways recited at his -request by Mr. Murdoch, whenever that loyal 
actor visited the metropolis. He was neither boisterous nor pro- 
fane. He cared little for the pleasures of the table ; and, al- 
though reared among a frontier people largely addicted to in- 
toxicating drinks, he preferred water as a beverage. He liked 



l68 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the theatre, especially when Edwin Forrest, Joseph Jefferson, 
John Brougham, or John S. Clarke was the star. Though he 
frequently accompanied Mrs. Lincoln to the opera, it was rath- 
er in obedience to a social demand or an eagerness for rest in 
the corner of his box than a taste for scientific music. He was 
a capital peacemaker, and was especially resolute in refusing 
to adopt the enemies of his friends. He had a horror of mak- 
ing speeches, although a fine colloquial orator, and when he 
did address the people it was in short sentences, and only for a 
few moments at a time. In these addresses, as well as in his 
messages and letters, he said things that will survive for many 
generations. I give a few at random : 

From his first annual message, March 9, 1861 : 
" There are already among us those who, if the Union be pre- 
served, will live to see it contain two hundred and fifty millions. 
The struggle of to-day is not altogether for to-day — it is for a 
vast future also. With a reliance on Providence, all the more 
firm and earnest, let us proceed in the great task which events 
have devolved upon us." 

From his remarks at a Union meeting in Washington, D. C, 
August 6, 1863 : 

" There has been a very widespread attempt to have a quar- 
rel between General McClellan and the Secretary of War. 
Now I occupy a position that enables me to observe that these 
two gentlemen are not nearly so deep in the quarrel as some 
pretending to be their friends. General McClellan's attitude 
is such that, in the very selfishness of his nature, he can not 
but wish to be successful, and I hope he will ; and the Secre- 
tary of War is in precisely the same situation. If the military 
commanders in the field can not be successful, not only the 
Secretary of War, but myself, for the time being the master of 
them both, can not but be failures." 

From his letter to Horace Greeley, August 22, 1862 : 
" The sooner the national authority can be restored, the near- 
er the Union will be —the Union as it was. 



LINCOLN'S TERSENESS. 169 

" If there be those who would not save the Union unless they 
could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. 

" If there be those who would not save the Union unless 
they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree 
with them. 

''^My paramount object is to save the Ufjmi, and not either to 
save or destroy slavery. 

" If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would 
do it ; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would 
do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving oth- 
ers alone, I would also do that. 

" What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because 
I believe it helps to save the Union ; and what I forbear, I for- 
bear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. 

" I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing 
hurts the cause, and shall do more whenever I believe doing 
more will help the cause. 

" I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors, and 
I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true 
views.'.' 

From his letter to the Illinois Convention, August 26, 1863 : 

" Peace does not appear so distant as it did. I hope it will 
come soon, and come to stay ; and so come as to be worth the 
keeping in all future time. It will then have been proved that 
among freemen there can be no successful appeal from the 
ballot to the bullet, and that they who take such appeal are 
sure to lose their case and pay the cost. And there will be 
some black men who can remember that, with silent tongue and 
clenched teeth and steady eye and well -poised bayonet, they 
have helped mankind on to this great consummation, while I fear 
ther-e will be some white ones unable to forget that, with malig- 
nant heart and deceitful speech, they have striven to hinder it." 

From his letter to Colonel Hodges, of Kentucky, April 4, 1864 : 

" I claim not to have controlled events, but confess that 

H 



170 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

events have controlled me. Now, at the end of three years' 
struggle, the nation's condition is not what either party, or any 
man, devised or expected. God alone can claim it. Whither 
it is tending seems plain. If God now wills the removal of a 
great wrong, and wills also that we of the North, as well as you 
of the South, shall pay fairly for our complicity in that wrong, 
impartial history will find therein new causes to attest and re- 
vere the justice and goodness of God." 

From his speech at the Philadelphia Fair, June 16, 1864 : 

" It is a pertinent question, often asked in the mind privately, 
and from one to the other. When is the war to end ? Surely, I 
feel as deep an interest in this question as any other can, but I 
do not wish to name a day, a month, or a year when it is to 
end. I do not wish to run any risk of seeing the time come 
without our being ready for the end, for fear of disappointment 
because the time had come and not the end. We accepted 
this war for an object, a worthy object, and the war will end 
when that object is attained. Under God, I hope it never will 
end until that time. Speaking of the present campaign. Gen- 
eral Grant is reported to have said, ' I am going through on this 
line if it takes all summer.' This war has taken three years; 
it was begun or accepted upon the line of restoring the national 
authority over the whole national domain; and for the Ameri- 
can people, so far as my knowledge enables me to speak, I say 
we are going through on this line if it takes three years more." 

From his second annual message : 

" The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy 
present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we 
must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must 
think anew and act anew. AVe must disenthral ourselves, and 
then we shall save our country. 

" Fellow-citizens, we can not escape history. We, of this Con- 
gress and this Administration, will be remembered in spite of 
ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 171 

spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we 
pass will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest gen- 
eration. We say we are for the Union. The world will not 
forget that we say this. We know how to save the Union. 
The world knows we do know how to save it. We — even we 
here — hold the power and bear the responsibility. In giving 
freedom to the slave we assure freedom to they>r^ — honorable 
alike in what we give and what we preserve. W^e shall nobly 
save, or meanly lose, the last, best hope of earth. Other means 
may succeed ; this could not fail. The way is plain, peaceful, 
generous, just — a way which, if followed, the world will forever 
applaud, and God must forever bless." 

From his address at the consecration of the National Ceme- 
tery at Gettysburg, November 19, 1864 : 

" But in a larger sense we can not dedicate, we can not conse- 
crate, we can not hallow this ground. The brave men, living 
and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our 
power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long 
remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they 
did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here 
to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried 
on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task 
remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take in- 
creased devotion to the cause for which they here gave the last 
full measure of devotion ; that we here highly resolve that the 
dead shall not have died in vain ; that the nation shall, under 
God, have a new birth of freedom, and that the government of 
the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish 
from the earth." 

From his letter to a committee of New York workingmen, 
March 21, 1864 : 

" None are so deeply interested to resist the present rebellion 
as the working people. Let them beware of prejudices working 
disunion and hostility among themselves. The most notable 



172 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

feature of a disturbance in your city last summer was the hang- 
ing of some working people by other working people. It should 
never be so. The strongest bond of human sympathy, outside 
of the family relation, should be one uniting all working people, 
of all nations, tongues, and kindreds. Nor should this lead to 
a war upon property or the owners of property. Property is 
the fruit of labor ; property is desirable ; is a positive good in 
the world. That some should be rich shows that others may 
become rich, and hence is just encouragement to industry and 
enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house 
of another, but let him labor diligently and build one for him- 
self; thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from 
violence when built." 

To a club of Pennsylvanians, November 8, 1864 : 
" I am thankful to God for this approval of the people ; but, 
while deeply gratified for this mark of their confidence in me, 
if I know my heart, my gratitude is free from any taint of per- 
sonal triumph. I do not impugn the motives of any one op- 
posed to me. It is not pleasure to me to triumph over any 
one ; but I give thanks to the Almighty for this evidence of the 
people's resolution to stand by free government and the rights 
of humanity." 

To political clubs of Washington, D.C., December 10, 1864: 
" But the election, along with its incidental and undesired 
strife, has done good too. It has demonstrated that a people's 
government can sustain a national election in the midst of a 
great civil war. [Renewed cheers.] Until now it has not been 
known to the world that this was a possibility. It shows, also, 
how sound and how strong we still are. It shows that, even 
among candidates of the same party, he who is most devoted 
to the Union and most opposed to treason can receive most of 
the people's vote. [Applause.] 

" It shows, also, to the extent yet unknown, that we have 
more men now than we had when the war began. Gold is good 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN. 1 73 

in its place, but living, brave, patriotic men are better than gold. 
[Cheers and other demonstrations of applause.]" 

On the adoption of the anti-slavery amendment this speech 
from the Presidential Mansion, February i, 1865 : 

" A question might be raised whether the proclamation was 
legally valid. It might be urged that it only aided those who 
came into our lines, and that it was inoperative as to those who 
did not give themselves up ; or that it would have no effect 
upon the children of slaves bom hereafter; in fact, it would be 
urged that it did not meet the evil. But the amendment is a 
king's cure-all for all the evils. [Applause.] It winds the whole 
thing up." 

On being officially notified of his re-election : 

" Having served four years in the depths of a great and yet 
unended national peril, I can view this call to a second term in 
nowise more flattering to myself than as an expression of the 
public judgment that I may better finish a difficult work, in 
which I have labored from the first, than could any one less 
severely schooled to the task. In this view, and with assured 
reliance on that Almighty Ruler who has so graciously sustained 
us thus far, and with increased gratitude to the generous people 
for their continued confidence, I accept the renewed trust with 
its yet onerous and perplexing duties and responsibilities." 

From his second inaugural address : 

" If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those 
offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but 
which, having continued through his appointed time, he now 
wills to remove, and that he gives to both North and South this 
terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, 
shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attri- 
butes which the believers in a God always ascribe to him? 
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this . mighty 
scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills 
that it continues until all the wealth piled by the bondsmen's 



174 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, 
and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid 
by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand 
years ago, so still it must be said, 'The judgments of the Lord 
are true and righteous altogether.' 

" With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness 
in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to 
finish the work we are in ; to bind up the nation's wounds, to 
care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow 
and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just 
and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations." 

On the slaves fighting for the rebels, March ii, 1865 : 

" There are but few aspects of this great war on which I have 
not already expressed my views by speaking or writing. There 
is one — the recent effort of * our erring brethren,' sometimes so 
called, to employ the slaves in their armies. The great ques- 
tion with them has been, ' Will the negro fight for them ?' They 
ought to know better than we, and doubtless do know better than 
we. I may incidentally remark, however, that having in my 
life heard many arguments — or strings of words meant to pass 
for arguments — intended to show that the negro ought to be a 
slave, that if he shall now really fight to keep himself a slave, 
it will be a far better argument why he should remain a slave 
than I have ever before heard. He, perhaps, ought to be a 
slave, if he desires it ardently enough to fight for it. Or if one 
out of four will, for his own freedom, fight to keep the other 
three in slavery, he ought to be a slave for his selfish meanness. 
I have always thought that all men should be free ; but if any 
should be slaves, it should be first those who desire it for them- 
selves^ and secondly those who desire it for others. Whenever 
I hear any one arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to 
see it tried on him personally." 

On Victory and Reconstruction, the last speech of his life, 
April II, 1865 • 



LINCOLN S LAST SPEECH. 1 75 

" Some twelve thousand voters in the heretofore slave State 
of Louisiana have sworn allegiance to the Union, assumed to 
be the rightful political power of the State, held elections, or- 
ganized a State government, adopted a free State constitution, 
giving the benefit of public schools equally to black and white, 
and empowering the Legislature to confer the elective franchise 
upon the colored man. Their Legislature has already voted to 
ratify the constitutional amendment recently passed by Con- 
gress abolishing slavery throughout the nation. These twelve 
thousand persons are thus fully committed to the Union and to 
perpetual freedom in the State ; committed to the very things 
and nearly all the things the nation wants, and they ask the 
nation's recognition and its assistance to make good that com- 
mittal. Now, if we reject and spurn them, we do our utmost to 
disorganize and disperse them. We, in effect, say to the white 
men, * You are worthless, or worse ; we will neither help you 
nor be helped by you.' To the blacks we say, 'This cup of 
Liberty which these, your old masters, hold to your lips, we will 
dash from you, and leave you to the chances of gathering the 
spilled and scattered contents in some vague and undefined 
when, where, and how.' If this course, discouraging and par- 
alyzing both w'hite and black, has any tendency to bring Loui- 
siana into proper practical relations with the Union, I have, so 
far, been unable to perceive it. If, on the contrary, we recog- 
nize and sustain the newgovernment of Louisiana, the converse 
of all this is made true. 

" We encourage the hearts and nerve the arms of the twelve 
thousand to adhere to their work, and argue for it and proselyte 
for it and fight for it, and feed it and grow it and ripen it to a 
complete success. The colored man, too, seeing all united for 
him, is inspired with vigilance and energy and daring to the 
same end. Grant that he desires the elective franchise, will he 
not attain it sooner by saving the already advanced steps to- 
ward it than by running backward over them } Concede that 



176 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the new government of Louisiana is only to what it should be 
as the egg is to the fowl ; we shall sooner have the fowl by 
hatching the egg than by smashing it. 

"Again, if we reject Louisiana, we also reject one vote in 
favor of the proposed amendment to the National Constitution. 
To meet this proposition it has been argued that no more than 
three fourths of those States which have not attempted seces- 
sion are necessary to validly ratify the amendment. I do not 
commit myself against this further than to say that such a rati- 
fication would be questionable, and sure to be persistently 
questioned ; whilst a ratification by three fourths of all the 
States would be unquestioned and unquestionable." 

I think I never saw him out of temper but once, and that was 
when I presented him the unanimous confirmation of a certain 
personage for a high office. " Why did the Senate not confirm 

Mr. and Mr. ? My friends knew I wanted this done, 

and I wanted it done to-day ;" r,nd then he used certain strong 
expressions against the successful person. I looked at him with 
some surprise, never having seen him in such a mood, and said, 
" Why, Mr. Lincoln, you seem to hold me responsible for the 
act of the Senate, when you must be aware of the custom under 
which that body acted." " Oh, no," was his reply; " I was not 
scolding you, my friend, but I fear I have been caught in a trap." 

Many a fierce conflict took place in his presence between 
angry politicians, but it required a very strong provocation to 
overbalance his judgment or his equanimity. Not so, however, 
with an appeal for mercy ; not so with a petition from the poor. 
Here he was as weak as woman, and more than once mingled 
his tears with the gentler sex. 

There are few parallels to such a character, but many con- 
trasts. 

The contrast between Lincoln and Johnson may be illustra- 
ted by an incident connected with the unhappy fourth of March, 
1865, when Andrew Johnson was inaugurated Vice-President 



INCOHERENT VICE-PRESIDENT. 1 77 

in the Senate chamber. I do not desire to see the curtain rise 
before a scene that both parties seem wiUing to expunge — the 
RepubHcans, who apologized for it when it occurred, and the 
Democrats, who regretted it after Johnson joined their despair- 
ing columns. But I can never forget President Lincoln's face 
as he came into the Senate Chamber while Johnson was deliv- 
ering his incoherent harangue. Lincoln had been detained 
signing the bills that had just passed the old Congress, and 
could not witness the regular opening of the new Senate till 
the ceremonies had fairly commenced. He took his seat facing 
the brilliant and surprised audience, and heard all that took 
place with unutterable sorrow. He then spoke his short inau- 
gural from the middle portico of the Capitol, and rode quickly 
home. Bitter maledictions were immediately hurled against 
the new Vice-President. I hastened to his defense to the best 
of my abilities, believing the affair to have been an accident. 
Threats of impeachment were common in both parties, espe- 
cially among the Democrats; and the crusade got so fierce at 
last that I found myself included among those who had helped 
Mr. Johnson to his exposure. But no voice of anger was heard 
from Abraham Lincoln. While nearly all censured and many 
threatened, Mr. Lincoln simply said, "It has been a severe 
lesson for Andy, but I do not think he will do it again." 

In a little more than a month, Lincoln was in his grave and 
Johnson his successor. Both have had their trial before the 
same people. The verdict on each is irreversible. What was 
at first a parallel has become a contrast. And this contrast 
grows stronger with every hour, and will stand through all time 
as a warning to the nations. 

[September 3, 187 1.] 

H 2 



1 78 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



XXXV. 



Very many people are exercised about the growth of monop- 
olies. Do they ever think of the monopoly of government and 
legislation by the lawyers ? I do not repeat a prejudice, but a 
fact. Take a seat in the gallery of the Senate or the House in 
Washington, or in any of the State Legislatures, and you will 
note that the controlling minds, with very few exceptions, are 
lawyers. All our Presidents were educated at the bar except 
Washington, Harrison, Taylor, and Grant. Most persons for- 
get that Andrew Jackson's early life, even beyond his thirtieth 
year, was given to the law, as United States District Attorney 
for the Territory of Western North Carolina, and as Judge of 
the Supreme Court of the new State of Tennessee ; that James 
K. Polk was one of the busiest men on his circuit; that Millard 
Fillmore (at first a tailor's apprentice), Franklin Pierce, James 
Buchanan, and Abraham Lincoln were distinguished lawyers. 
It is true that Andrew Johnson was in no sense a lawyer, but 
he had been long in politics and knew how to avail himself of 
lawyers. The Southern politicians of the generation after Wash- 
ington, Jefferson, and Monroe, such as Clay, Calhoun, Critten- 
den, Thomas H. Benton, George Poindexter, Bailie Peyton, 
Henry A. Wise, Jefferson Davis, Robert Toombs, and W. H. 
Roane, were famous at the bar before entering public life. Sam 
Houston, of Texas, was not a lawyer, nor Lewis F. Linn, Col- 
onel Benton's handsome colleague from Missouri, nor William 
M. Gwin, Senator from California, nor his martyr-colleague, 
David C. Broderick ; but such exceptions only strengthen the 
rule that the legal profession is, after all, the sure secret of suc- 
cessful leadership. I have often been struck with the dogma- 
tism of the attorneys who came into Congress after a prosper- 
ous career, and the deference paid to them by those of stronger 
minds and larger experience. They assert their old habits 



LAWYERS IN CONGRESS. 1 79 

while they were advocates or judges. AV. Pitt Fessenden, of 
Maine; Jacob Collamer, of Vermont, Reverdy Johnson, of Mary- 
land, Thaddeus Stevens and John Hickman, of Pennsylvania, 
were signal illustrations. Their opinions were given with an 
ex cathedra air, and generally submitted to. The privileges of 
lawyers in Congress have often excited complaint. They can 
practice in the courts, even in cases upon which they may have 
voted in Congress. Many do not scruple to attend to business 
in the Departments and take fees for their services, but the lay- 
men — the merchants, the physicians, and the manufacturers — 
can not, uncensured, follow their example, while holding a place 
in the national councils. What was true in this respect in the 
past is more true at the present, and will be truer of the future. 
The law is the royal road to eminence in this country, whatever 
men may say to the contrary ; and it is natural that it should 
be so, as government, property, and personal rights are vitally 
dependent upon law : thus all Americans ought to include some- 
thing of legal knowledge in their early education. In England 
every statesman is reared, if not to the bar, at least to a knowl- 
edge of jurisprudence. First take a thorough classical educa- 
tion as a foundation, and build on it a complete insight into the 
common law and of the laws of nations. Such is the British 
ideal. Ordinary minds, thoroughly conversant with legal prec- 
edents and authorities, wield a large influence in public bodies. 
Every man of business consults his lawyer more frequently than 
his physician. The youth who varies his collegiate course by 
lessons in the law academy, emigrates to the West with rare 
advantages over those who are not so equipped. Our Delegates, 
Senators, and Representatives from the new States and Terri- 
tories are lawyers almost without exception. A profession 
which clothes its disciples with so many facilities deserves more 
attention than it has received from scholastic institutions. I 
do not insist that all our young men should study the law, but 
where the acquisition of it is so easy and the possession of it so 



l8o ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

useful, it certainly deserves consideration at the hands of those 
who direct the instruction of the people. No citizen is any the 
worse for such an acquisition. 

More than a year ago I sat among the spectators at the com- 
mencement of the Howard University in the city of Washing- 
ton, while Professor John M. Langston presided over the exer- 
cises of a class of colored young men, just completing their le- 
gal studies. Some of them had only a year before been unable 
to read and write, and one bright, black fellow was especially 
patronized by the Professor, because six months before he did 
not know his alphabet. Nearly all had been slaves. There 
were oral and written arguments. The manner in which they 
spoke or read their productions displayed extraordinary talent. 
I thought I could detect in their flowing cadences and graceful 
gestures close copies of the old Southern statesmen, who in past 
years lorded it over both parties. There was scarcely an error, 
of grammar or pronunciation. The logic and the appreciation 
of the subjects treated, which included landlord and tenant, 
titles to real estate, divorce, borrowing and lending, promissory 
notes, etc., proved not only careful study, but intense deter- 
mination to succeed. Among the candidates was a woman 
who read a clear and compact treatise on a difficult legal prob- 
lem, in the enunciation and preparation of which she exhibited 
the precision of an expert and the condensation of a thinker. 
I doubt whether the older and more extensiv^e Law School con- 
nected with Columbia College, where the offspring of the other, 
and what is called the superior race, are educated, could show, 
all things considered, an equal number of graduates as well 
grounded and as completely armed for the battle of the future. 
There are colored lawyers in most of our courts, even in the 
highest judiciary. They are the pioneers of an interesting and 
exciting destiny. With them, unlike their more fortunate white 
brethren, the bitterest struggle begins when they receive their 
sheepskins, They go forth to war c^gainst a tempest of bigotry 



CLAY AND BUCHANAN. l8l 

and prejudice. They will have to fight their way into society, 
and to contend with jealousy and hate in the jury-box and in 
the court-room, but they will win, as surely as ambition, genius, 
and courage are gifts, not of race or condition, but of God 
alone. 

[September lo, 1871.] 



XXXVI. 

Henry Clay never fully forgave James Buchanan for the 
part he played in 1824-25 in the celebrated bargain and sale 
by which it was charged that Clay gave the vote of Kentucky 
to John Quincy Adams for President instead of General Jack- 
son, in consideration of his subsequent appointment by Adams 
to the Department of State. Buchanan was then a Representa- 
tive in Congress from the old Lancaster, Chester, and Dela- 
ware district in Pennsylvania. Chosen originally as a Federal- 
ist, he became a Democrat under the influence of Jackson's 
popularity, while Clay, originally a Democrat, became a violent 
Whig antagonist of Jackson and his party. In 1824-25 Bu- 
chanan was in his thirty-fifth year, and Clay in his forty-eighth. 
The accusation that Clay had supported Adams for a place in 
his Cabinet, long insisted upon by his adversaries, aroused the 
bitterest passions, and was haughtily and indignantly repelled 
by himself. He was made to believe that the story was started 
by the young member from Lancaster, but this was always de- 
nied by the latter, and he wrote several letters efiectually dis- 
proving it, but they were not satisfactory to the imperious Ken- 
tuckian. It will be remembered that John Randolph, of Vir- 
ginia, was one of Clay's fiercest assailants, and he carried his 
enmity so far that it led to a duel between them, which termi- 
nated without bloodshed. 



l82 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Some ten years later Clay and Buchanan were both in the 
United States Senate together, and the latter was one of the 
leaders of the Democracy. Clay did not conceal his dislike of 
the Pennsylvanian, and sought every occasion to show it. One 
memorable day he rose and made a studied attack upon the 
Democrats, and especially upon General Jackson, Mr. Bu- 
chanan was put forward to answer him, which he did with his 
best ability. When he took his seat Mr. Clay rose with well- 
feigned surprise, and sarcastically remarked that " he had made 
no allusion to the Senator from Pennsylvania. He was refer- 
ring to the leaders^ not to the subordinates of the Democracy." 
Upon which Buchanan took the floor and said that the Senator 
from Kentucky was certainly in error, because he had pointedly 
and repeatedly looked at him while he was speaking. Clay 
quickly and sneeringly retorted by alluding to Buchanan's slight 
obliquity of vision. " I beg to say, Mr. President," he remarked, 
" that the mistake was the Senator's, not mine. Unlike him, 
sir, I do not look one way and row another." It was a cruel 
thrust ; and when a gentleman reproached Clay for his harsh- 
ness, he shrugged his shoulders and said, " Oh, d — n him ! he 
deserved it. He writes letters P'' On another occasion Bu- 
chanan defended himself against the charge of hostility to the 
second war with England by showing that he had formed a 
troop of Lancaster horse, and rode to Baltimore to resist the 
invader. " Yes, Mr. President," was Clay's prompt rejoinder, 
" I remember that event, and I remember also that by the time 
the Senator got into Maryland the enemy had fled. Doubtless 
they heard of the approach of the distinguished gentleman, and 
retired before the prestige of his courage." 

But time, if it does not make all things even, mollifies the 
passions of men. Mr. Buchanan was too much a man of the 
world — too accomplished a courtier — not to soften the asperity 
of as proud a spirit as Clay. They frequently met in society in 
after years, especially at the dinner-table. If they did not be 



CITIES OF THE DEAD. 1 83 

come friends, they at least ceased to be enemies. And in 
1856, when Buchanan became the Democratic candidate for 
President, he had no more hearty supporter than the son of the 
Great Kentuckian, James B. Clay, who, after having served in the 
Confederate army, died at Montreal on the 26th of January, 1864. 

Benton, who had always opposed Buchanan's aspirations, be- 
cause he regarded him as weak and timid, powerfully champi- 
oned him in that year even against his own son-in-law, Fremont. 
Rufus Choate, Webster's nearest friend, was on the same side ; 
so were John Van Buren and his father, notwithstanding both 
held Buchanan's friends accountable for the nomination of Polk 
in 1844. Webster himself, had he lived, would, I think, have 
voted the same way ; and perhaps Henry Clay would have pre- 
ferred the man who so solemnly pledged himself to put an end , 
to the slavery agitation. They both died. Clay in &eptemtrer /• 
and Webster in October of 1852, and so were spared the morti- 
fication of Choate, Benton, and the Van Burens, when James 
Buchanan yielded to the fire-eaters, and tried to force slavery 
into Kansas. 

[September 17, 1871.] 



XXXVII. 

Cemeteries are of modern origin. One of the oldest is 
Pere la Chaise, near Paris, the arrangements of which have been 
generally followed in English and American cities. The dead 
of the ancients became so numerous at last that the bodies 
were burned, and the ashes preserved in urns, which it appears 
from recent excavations had accumulated in incalculable num- 
bers. It is believed that the fine burial grounds of the Turks, 
extending over large tracts, adorned by cedars and other trees, 
suggested the prevailing plans of the Europeans. Our places 



184 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

of interment are surrounded by beautiful and elevating influ- 
ences, decorated by foliage and flowers, monuments and statu- 
ary, and always located in the midst of exquisite natural scen- 
ery. Greenwood, near New York; Mount Auburn, Boston; 
Laurel Hill, Philadelphia; Buenaventura, Savannah, may be 
called the patterns from which many have been copied, so that 
there is not a considerable town. North or South, that does not 
boast of one of these cities of the dead. Among the most pict- 
uresque is undoubtedly that founded by W. W. Corcoran — 
" Oak Hill Cemetery," at Georgetown, D. C. The marble pile 
awaiting his own remains is a work of consummate majesty 
and symmetry. The plan is entirely different from that adopt- 
ed in other cemeteries. A series of natural ravines have been 
handsomely terraced and planted with shrubbery. No railings 
are allowed around the different lots, so that the whole pre- 
sents the appearance of a handsome private park. Many of 
the monuments are noted specimens. Prominent among the 
latest is that erected by the family of Edwin M. Stanton. It is 
of silver-tinged granite from the quarries near Concord, New 
Hampshire. The inscription reads : " Edwin M. Stanton, born 
December 19, 1814; died December 4, 1869." 
,/ No modern character possesses more interest than Stanton. 
The time has not come when his biography may be faithfully 
and dispassionately written. Up to the rebellion he lived a 
life of singular tranquillity. Discarding office and atvoiding 
politics, his ambition was in the line of the law, in which he 
soon became a giant. ' A close student, a clear, compact logi- 
cian, a bold and impetuous advocate, his best powers were given 
to his profession. Sought after far and near, and employed in 
most of the great cases, his reputation and large influence, in 
his native State of Ohio and in his adopted State of Pennsyl- 
vania, assumed national proportions when he removed to the 
city of Washington. He towered in the Supreme Court a 
leader of leaders. An authority of wide acceptation, he was a 



EDWIN M. STANTON. 1 85 

genius of his school. Forced finally into public position at the 
close of Buchanan's Administration, his bearing as Attorney- 
General was so fearless and conscientious that when General 
Cameron retired from the War Department, popular opinion 
pointed him out as the fittest man for that responsible post, 
and when President Lincoln selected him, the whole country 
cried Amen. 

I knew him well. Long before his name was cited in the 
catalogue of great lawyers, I met and learned to love him, won- 
dered at his mind, and gathered instruction from his counsels. 
He had strong convictions. He hated slavery from the start, 
although co-operating with the Democratic party. Once he was 
sent to Columbus as a delegate to a Young Men's State Con- 
vention, and when the chairman endeavored to disregard the 
sentiment to which the majority were pledged, Stanton, who was 
in the second or third tier, made several efforts to obtain a 
hearing. At last he caught the chairman's eye, and command- 
ed his attention by beginning his speech as follows : "I address 
you to-day as the meanest man among the thousands of young 
men of Ohio whom you have attempted to betray." When he 
accepted the portfolio of War Minister it was in the spirit of 
the generals of Cromwell's Puritan army. The first thing he 
did was to put himself out of sight. In the long catalogue of 
calumnies heaped by bad men upon his honored name, not 
even a suspicion of personal ambition is found. They hated 
him because he loved his country — because that love was sin- 
cere, vigilant, exacting. He was rough in his manners to those 
he had reason to believe corrupt, but he was sweet as summer 
to the poor, the humble, and the brave. By his own example 
he conquered. Asking nothing for himself, he refused every 
thing to others that was not just. After several generals had 
failed, I heard him say, more than once, " I will find a leader 
for these armies, if he must be taken from the ranks." The in- 
tensity with which he was identified with his client's cause was 



1 86 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

in accordance with his intense devotion to the Republic. I have 
seen him more than once order back the laggard to camp in 
tones of stern rebuke, and immediately afterward take the 
mother of a private soldier by the hand and cheer her for the 
loss of her son. Utterly regardless of social pleasure, he had 
no hope, no object, no time but for the cause. He worked 
harder than any of his subordinates, and stayed longer in his 
Department. It was astonishing how this man, who had never 
participated in party warfare, comprehended the political situa- 
tion. Fertile of suggestion, he was a mine of information to an 
editor. He thought quickly and wrote strongly. He would 
give a key-note for a campaign, which, sounded in the columns 
of a newspaper, would thrill a continent. He was no respecter 
of persons. Frequently, to prove his iron impartiality, he re- 
proached his nearest friends when he feared they were falter- 
ing. He studiously abstained from public speaking. His re- 
ports were brief, but clear and cogent ; his letters few and 
simple; his gazettes announcing a victory were marked by all 
the Covenanter's fire. I reproduce that in which he promul- 
gated the decisive victories of Grant before Richmond : 

"War Department, Washington, D.C, ) 
''Lieutenant-General Grant: " ^P"^ 9, 1865-9:30 P.M. ) 

"Thanks be to Almighty God for the great victory with which he has 
this day crowned you and the gallant army under your command ! The 
thanks of this Department, and of the Government, and of the people of 
the United States, their reverence and honor, have been deserved, and will 
be rendered to you and the brave and gallant officers and soldiers of your 
army for all time. Edward M. Stanton, Secretary of War." 

In these two sentences you have an insight into the character 
of Edwin M. Stanton. Every word seems to have been coined 
out of the pure gold and weighed in the nicest scales of grati- 
tude. They are short, but how ponderous ! Written for the 
living millions, they will be read by the coming millions. As we 
ponder them, and recollect that in five little days Abraham Lin- 



DR. GEORGE McCLELLAN. 1 87 

coin slept in death, and that a little more than five years later — 
after that terrible struggle with Andrew Johnson, which may be 
said to have literally crushed the heart of the great statesman — 
Stanton himself was summoned to his last account, let us never 
cease to cherish and follow his matchless example. Had he 
lived to take his seat upon the bench of the Supreme Court of 
the United States, the words of Daniel Webster, applied to the 
illustrious John Jay, would have been equally true of Edwin M. 
Stanton : " When the spotless ermine of the judicial robe fell 
upon him it touched nothing less spotless than itself." 

[September 24, 1871.] 



XXXVIII. 

General McClellan's father, the famous Philadelphia sur- 
geon, Dr. George McClellan, was one of the most devoted of 
Whigs, and one of Henry Clay's sincerest friends. His lectures 
at our great Philadelphia Medical College, in which he was an 
eminent professor, were models of terse statement and lucid 
analysis. His influence in society was large and commanding. 
Shortly after the defeat of Mr. Clay, in 1844, 1 was the guest of 
my friend, Hon. Morton McMichael, the present editor of the 
Philadelphia North American, who then resided in Filbert Street, 
near Broad, in that city. Like Dr. McClellan, he had fervently 
supported the Kentucky statesman. At that time I was the 
editor of the Democratic organ at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and 
bore a very near relation to James Buchanan. Politics had 
never interfered with my intimacy with Mr. McMichael, which, 
beginning when we were both very young, has continued with- 
out pause to this hour. One day after dinner there was a 
quick, sharp ring at the door-bell, when my host said with a 
laugh, " Look out ! there is Dr. McClellan f and with that the 



l88 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

distinguished surgeon came bustling in. The defeat of Mr. 
Clay was still keenly felt by the Whigs, though my generous 
and genial friend, McMichael, did not allow his hospitality to 
be less because I had opposed him. But Dr. McClellan could 
not restrain his feelings. He held Buchanan responsible for 
the vote of Pennsylvania, and, though most courteous to me, 
did not spare the Wheatland leader. We soon got over our 
little difference, however, and closed the controversy in a glass 
of wine. The Doctor possessed rare traits. Abounding in an- 
ecdote and information, he was an unrivaled wit and conversa- 
tionalist. His son. Dr. J. H. B. McClellan, and his grandson, 
young Dr. George, both in fine practice in Philadelphia, have in- 
herited his high professional skill and in a considerable degree 
his lively and vivacious nature. 

There is a well-known physician in Washington, Dr. J. C. 
Hall, who relates many incidents of the public men he has at- 
tended in his long and brilliant experience. At the head of his 
profession, he has attained old age almost without an enemy. 
I know no man more universally beloved. A happy tempera- 
ment, fine manners, and a thorough scholar, his sketches of the 
leading characters of other days would make a charming vol- 
ume if he would write them out. Fond of polite literature and 
of cultivated people, he is almost out of practice, and may be 
said to live among his friends and his books. He, too, was an 
"Old-line Whig," and shared the feelings, if not the prejudices, 
of Dr. McClellan, whom he knew and admired, especially as he 
was a graduate of Jefferson College, Philadelphia. Dr. Hall 
has known the leaders of both, in fact, of all the great parties, 
and was frequently consulted by them. He attended General 
Jackson on several occasions, though not his family physician. 
It is one of the Doctor's peculiarities that he does not trouble 
himself with money matters, and is careless about collecting his 
fees. Once, however, during a temporary absence, his clerk 
made out some bills, and among others sent one to the Presi- 



THE PRESIDENT AND THE DOCTOR. 1 89 

dent. On his return the Doctor found a note from General 
Jackson inclosing a check for the amount, deducting an old 
charge which had been called for and settled, and for which he 
held a receipt. The fact that the bill had been sent was not 
less a mortification to Dr. Hall than the error in the account it- 
self. But on looking at the President's check he found that 
the General had forgotten to sign it ! He therefore returned it, 
with the expression of his regret that the bill had been sent, 
and pointed out the General's omission. The check was duly 
signed and sent back inclosed in a note with this remark ; 

"Dear Doctor, — The best of men is liable to mistakes. 

"Andrew Jackson." 

Dr. Hall testifies to the old hero's kindness to all his people, 
especially to his servants. Once when the small-pox broke out 
among them, and nearly every body else fled, the President re- 
mained in the White House, and waited on black and white with 
unremitting attention. 

Few physicians enter public life, though many of them are 
active politicians. They seem to prefer the field of science to 
the field of party. Yet there is no class capable of exercising 
more power. They are the depositories of many a sacred trust ; 
and if they dared to relate what they know of the great ones 
they have attended in sickness and in their last hours, they 
would shed a wonderful light upon the characters of men and 
the mysteries of governments. 

[October i, 1871.] 



XXXIX. 

I WAS introduced to Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, grandson 
of the illustrious patriot of that name, at Barnum's Hotel, Bal- 
timore, in the spring of 1855, and after a friendly conversation 



19© ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

upon public affairs he cordially invited me to visit his estate at 
Doughoregan Manor, in Carroll County, Maryland. There was 
something so sincere in his manner that I yielded to his wish, 
and one afternoon in July of the same year I took the cars for 
Ellicott's Station, in company with a young friend. When we 
reached it, on a bright moonlight night, we found a carriage 
waiting to convey us to the farm of the Hon. Edward Ham- 
mond, then a Representative in Congress, and the neighbor 
and confidential friend of Mr. Carroll. Mr. Hammond had 
been an invalid, and was confined to his room, but came forth 
and greeted us with an old-fashioned Southern welcome. A 
number of the young men of the vicinity came in on horseback 
to join our merry party, and it was very late when we retired. 
The next morning we passed over to see our host at Doughore- 
gan Manor. He received us like a knight of the olden time. 
AVe found ourselves in the midst of a vast estate, into which all 
the modern improvements in agriculture had been introduced. 
He showed me a thousand acres devoted to the cultivation of 
corn, then in full leaf and tassel, promising a bounteous crop; 
he carried us through his slave-quarters, and when I remarked 
that this system could not last, he turned to me with an expres- 
sion I shall ever remember, and said, " So far as I can help it, 
it shall not." He was a Catholic, like his great ancestor, Charles 
Carroll of Carrollton, who was born at Annapolis, September 
20, 1737, and who died November 14, 1832, in his ninety-sixth 
year. He pointed out the exquisite marble effigies of his de- 
ceased relatives in the beautiful chapel, without seeming to 
think that he would soon be one of the occupants of that beau- 
tiful chamber of the dead. Of gentle, polished manners, hand- 
some presence, large acquirements, and generous, even profuse 
hospitality, he was a type of the patriotic school of which his 
grandfather was one of the finest ideals. As a citizen of intrin- 
sic and historic merit, an authentic sketch of his career may not 
be out of place: 



CARROLL OF CARROLLTON. I9I 

Charles Carroll, grandson of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 
and son of Charles Carroll, of Homewood, and Harriet Chew, 
a daughter of the late Chief Justice Chew, of Pennsylvania, 
was born in Baltimore on July 25, 1801. He had one brother 
older than himself, who died in his infancy, and he remained 
an only son with four sisters. 

The preparatory studies of Mr. Carroll were made at home 
under a tutor, from which he was sent to St. Mary's College, 
Baltimore, and afterward to Mount St. Mary's, Emmettsburg, 
in Maryland. In 1818, in company with his cousin, Charles 
Harper, a son of the late General Harper, he went to Europe 
under the charge of a tutor, and was placed at the College of 
St. Stanislaus, in Paris. He remained there until 182 1, when 
he returned and entered Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass. 
A few months before the graduation of his class, in 1823, owing 
to some difficulty with the professors, a large portion of that 
class was dismissed, and their degrees were not given to them 
for many years aftenvard. 

Mr. Carroll, returning home, entered the law -office of the 
late General Harper, and in 1825 he married Mary Diggs Lee, 
granddaughter of the late Thomas Simon Lee, Governor of 
Maryland. At the death of Charles Carroll of Carrollton, Mr. 
Carroll came into possession of the estate called Doughoregan 
Manor, which he held undivided until his death. A large num- 
ber of slaves were bequeathed to him by his grandfather's will, 
and he set himself to work to renovate and improve the lands, 
which were considerably run down by being leased for long 
terms of years. 

He greatly improved the mansion-house and grounds, and 
succeeded in a very short time in bringing nearly the whole es- 
tate, consisting of two thousand acres, under prosperous culti- 
vation. 

For many years he was a Whig in political sentiment, and 
although always posted and taking a great interest in public 



192 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

matters, he never held any position of political preferment, but 
devoted his life to the development of his property for the ben- 
efit of his family. His slaves were always treated with that 
kindness and consideration which he felt was their due, and, 
having always professed the Catholic faith, their religious edu- 
cation was guarded with the same care as was that of his own 
family. 

In i860 an affection of the heart, from which he had long 
been disturbed, developed more fully, and in December, 1862, 
he died, devising his estate of Doughoregan Manor, and all the 
rest of his property, equally among his seven representatives. 
He left as heirs three sons and three daughters, and the infant 
children of a son who died a few months previous to himself. 
His views upon the subject of slavery are perhaps best set forth 
in his will, which is thus transcribed: 

" I have always regarded slavery as a great evil, producing in- 
jury and loss in grain-growing States, but an evil for which we 
are not responsible who now hold slaves, considering that God 
in his wisdom placed them here and permitted them to be in- 
troduced. My experience and full convictions are that as long 
as we have that class of labor among us, they are as a mass 
better cared for and happier than if they were free and provid- 
ing for themselves. I therefore give all my slaves to all my 
children, with these positive injunctions, that none of them shall 
ever be sold except among themselves, and except for those 
crimes for which they would be punishable by the laws of the 
State, or for gross insubordination. I also direct that they shall 
continue to have the advantages of the religious education they 
now receive, and that their morals and habits be watched over 
like those of children. It may hereafter be found advisable to 
remove them to the South to cultivate cotton, where the climate 
is more congenial to their health, while it removes them from 
the pernicious influence of the low whites, who now corrupt 
them. In this way they can be made profitable, and eventually 



ANDREW M. REEDER. I93 

a fund provided to establish them at some future day in Africa 
or in the West Indies. It is my wish that my children shall not 
transmit them to any of my grandchildren." 

It was a sad yet happy day and a half I spent among these 
interesting men. Amid their abounding hospitality there was 
still a presentiment upon me, and so when I returned to Wash- 
ington, and found Sydney Webster, private secretary of Presi- 
dent Pierce, waiting for me at the station, I knew something 
had happened. He had come to announce that Andrew H. 
Reeder had been that day removed as Governor of Kansas. It 
was the beginning of the end. Jefferson Davis, of Mississippi, 
was too powerful for either Hon. Asa Packer or myself, and our 
gallant friend was ejected from his place only because he had re- 
fused to consent to the conspiracy to make Kansas a slave State. 

We had jointly recommended the appointment of Andrew H. 
Reeder to this post, really in response to President Pierce's 
suggestion, who was anxious to give it to a Pennsylvanian. 
When Reeder accepted he was in high favor with the Democ- 
racy of the old Tenth Legion of Pennsylvania. An extreme 
sympathizer with the South at all times, his experience in Kan- 
sas completely converted him. Honest, independent in his 
circumstances, a very able lawyer, and an entrancing speaker, 
he was just the character for a new country, just the man to 
save the Administration from fatal complications. When the 
President nominated him, Hon. Richard Brodhead, then one of 
the Pennsylvania Senators, and always the rival of Reeder, or 
Reeder of him, did not conceal his disappointment, but Judge 
Packer, who lived in the same Congressional district, was too 
strong for Brodhead to fight, and Reeder was confirmed. Then 
our friend went forth to Kansas, free, fair, and unprejudiced. 
He had not been there long before he wrote back to us, de- 
nouncing the open frauds of the slaveholders. I well remember 
the effect produced upon our minds. But Jefferson Davis's 
friends were potent with the Executive ; their falsehoods were 

I 



194 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

credited ; Reeder's statements discredited, and a brave, honest 
man sacrificed. The news of his dismissal, after my agreeable 
visit to Charles Carroll of Carrollton, was the gloomy sequel 
of a happy day. What rendered it more unpleasant was the 
fact that I was at that time one of the editors of the WasJmigton 
Ufiio?i, the Democratic Administration organ. Many will blame 
President Pierce for consenting to the proscription of Governor 
Reeder ; but I can never forget that when I told him I could 
not remain in the Union^ and write in support of the policy 
which had displaced Governor Reeder, or even consent to let 
others do so, he refused to accept my resignation, and I con- 
tinued under the proffered generous condition that the paper 
should remain silent on the subject. And so it did, until I for- 
mally retired, and returned to Pennsylvania to make James 
Buchanan President. 

Of the parties to this event I have named, incidentally and 
otherwise, three only survive ; Charles Carroll of Carrollton, 
Andrew H. Reeder, Richard Brodhead, and Franklin Pierce 
have been gathered to their fathers. 

[October 8, 1871.] 



XL. 

There is always something grotesque in the manners and 
habits of the old Southern slaveholders. Every body has noticed 
how the negro dialect pervades the conversation of the so-called 
superior race. A beautiful Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia, 
or Louisiana woman is made more interesting by the infusion 
of the plantation patois into her liquid language. Long and 
constant communication between the master and the slave cre- 
ated and crystallized affinities and eccentricities that wdll re- 
quire generations to modify. As some friends and myself were 



IN THE LEGISLATURE. I95 

passing through one of the Southern States, a little more than 
two years ago, an odd incident illustrative of the characteristics 
of the old-time school took place in one of the smoking-cars. 
A venerable gentleman, with white hair and gold-headed cane, 
got in at one of the stations, took his seat, and drew from his 
large coat-pocket a long pipe, which he proceeded to fill and 
light. He was soon followed by another of the same school, a 
little older, who took his seat next to him and lit a cigar. They 
were evidently near neighbors, and the dialogue ran about as 
follows : " How are you all at home, sah ?" " Well, sah !" " Is 
Miz Smith well ?" " Very well, sah !" " Is Miz Jones well ?" 
" Yes, sah," question and answer being rapidly punctuated with 
alternate puffs. Then came the more serious topic. " Mr. 
Smith," said the one to the other, " I notice that Tom has gone 
back on you, sah. I never had any opinion of Tom, and I am 
not surprised that he did go back on you, sah !" " Yes, sah," 
was the reply, "he has gone back on me. Is it not an aston- 
ishing thing, sah, that this boy of mine should now be repre- 
senting me in the Legislature, sah, when I am prevented 
from voting by this d — d Radical Congress and Government, 
sah? He was a first-rate servant; wrote a good hand, sah; 
frequently kept my books, sah, and yet he sits in the Legisla- 
ture, sah, and I can not even vote, sah." On inquiry I learned 
that Tom was a former slave of our worthy Polonius, but, after 
emancipation and reconstruction, was elected a member of the 
Legislature, and was then at Raleigh doing the work that the 
masters had done for a century. The simple-hearted old man 
did not seem to know that in every complaint against Tom he 
was paying the highest tribute to his qualifications. 

During the same trip one of the same class came into our 
special car and regaled us with a long catalogue of his suffer- 
ings and losses. Like most Southern men and women, he was 
full of talk and full of politics. It is the characteristic of these 
people that they hardly ever hold a conversation which is not 



196 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

interlarded with their own affairs. Addicted to it before the 
war, they enlarge upon it now. I had barely been presented to 
my new friend before he opened his budget. We were passing 
over some of the historic fields of the rebellion, and it was 
amusing to note, in the midst of his lamentations, how he 
stopped to say, "Well, sah, here's the spot whar we gave the 
Yankees h — , sah." " Now we are coming to the place where 
you uns rather got the advantage of us, sah, and here is whar 
we had to fly to when Wilmington fell;" and then he would 
resume his wail. I listened a good hour without interruption. 
The oblivious simplicity of the man rather pleased me, and 

when there was a pause in the torrent, I said, "Pray, Mr. , in 

all your accusations of the National Government, have you ever 
once reflected upon the part you played against it? Do you 
ever think that all these sufferings have been brought upon you 
by yourselves ?" I think if I had struck him in the face he 
would not have been more surprised. This honest, kind-hearted 
man was so completely absorbed in his grievances that he had 
never taken account of his own offenses. And so it is with 
the entire class. Naturally generous, confiding, and brave, they 
are so much absorbed in themselves, and have lived so long in 
their exclusive world, that they have finally come to believe in 
nothing but their own wrongs, and never indulge the habit of 
self examination. Herein we have the source of their steady 
resistance to mental and material progress. They do not feel 
the world move. They do not see the vast improvements all 
around them. They will retain thousands of acres without go- 
ing out of their way for purchasers, and even when they find 
them, they are very apt to forfeit a bargain on account of poli- 
tics. To them every advance in science and in government is 
a Radical innovation. They can't be called malignant, although 
their exclusiveness operates precisely as if they were. They are 
generous as long as their vanity is flattered. Very brave in 
personal combat, they fought gallantly on the rebel side, but, 



SOUTHERN DIALECT. I97 

lacking true courage and self-respect, they do not admit that 
they committed the slightest wrong against their Government, 
even while they expect that Government to extend its blessings 
over them. It remains to be seen whether the children of these 
men and women will follow their example. Happily for them- 
selves, and happily for the country, the Government of the 
United States and the welfare of all its citizens do not depend 
upon the fiat of the old slaveholders. 

But I was talking of the peculiar dialect of these people rather 
than their opinions. Henry Clay's speaking was strongly 
marked by it. James M. Mason, of Virginia, seemed to delight 
in the African accent. But there was no better specimen than 
the late Thomas H. Bayley, for many years the Representative 
in Congress of the Accomac district. He was a man of con- 
siderable force and education, and I can easily recall his tall 
form, his expressive face and ringing voice, as, spectacles on 
nose, he would address " Mr. Speakah," and refer to the hon- 
orable member who had just had the "flo'." Keitt, of South 
Carolina, had the same accent and pronunciation. So, too, 
Linn Boyd, of Kentucky, and Howell Cobb, of Georgia. All 
these men, and most of the former leaders of opinion in the 
South, are in their graves, but Toombs, Stephens, Henry A. 
Wise, Bocock, John Forsyth, and Jeff Davis, still live, as warn- 
ings, if not as examples. 

[October 15, 1871.] 



XLI. 

John Sergeant is one of the many Philadelphians whose 
memory will always be honored. His reputation, ripened by 
culture, integrity, and winning manners, became national before 
he was forty, and when he died, in his seventy-third year, he 



198 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

had filled out a life of rare usefulness and success. He was 
born in 1779, less than a year before Horace Binney, who is 
still living, and who was his contemporary for fifty years at the 
bar and in public life. The tribute of the latter, a few days aft- 
er the death of his friend, at a meeting of the members of the 
legal profession of Philadelphia, in November, 1852, is a classic 
of obituaries. At a period when so many are rushing into the 
law as a profession, Horace Binney on John Sergeant may not 
be unprofitably read. I quote : 

" Mr. Sergeant was born in Philadelphia, and lived there for 
seventy-three years, during fifty-three years of which he was an 
advocate and counselor — one of the ministers of justice. He 
has been known and honored for half a century. In learning, 
integrity, and in liberal fairness, in habitual courtesy, he has 
maintained the reputation of the bar of Philadelphia and sup- 
ported the inherent dignity of the profession. He continued 
every year during his whole life increasing his titles to respect 
and honor every day, until he achieved the highest degrees of 
both — as wise men estimate degrees of honor and respect — by 
merit, not by accident or fortune, or the breath of popular ap- 
plause. He has rounded the whole circle of his life fully, com- 
pletely, perfectly." 

As marking the difference between the lawyers of the past 
and the present, I heard an anecdote of Mr. Sergeant the other 
day, which shows how the giants estimated their professional 
services and by what sensitive and scrupulous rules they squared 
their actions. A distinguished merchant, still living, called 
upon Mr. Sergeant for his opinion in an important case, 
which was duly prepared and sent by one of the students of the 
great lawyer. The merchant opened the letter, and after 
glancing over it asked the student for the charge. He said he 
did not know the contents of the paper and could not answer. 
The merchant then signed a blank check, and sent it back to 
Mr. Sergeant by the same hand, with a message that he should 



JOHN SERGEANT. 199 

fill it Up with the amount of his fee. This very student, now 
one of the leading members of the Philadelphia bar, graphically 
describes the effect of the communication. He says he never 
saw a little man (Mr. Sergeant was of slight stature) so sudden- 
ly tower into a giant. "Mr. entirely misunderstands me, 

sir! Go back to him, sir, and say for me that I am the last 
person living to fill up another man's check. If he will care- 
fully examine the paper I sent, he will find my fee written in 
one of the corners." With this somewhat considerable flea 
in his ear the young man retraced his steps to the merchant, 
when the opinion was carefully inspected, and written in very 
small letters, in the angle of one of the pages, were the figures 
"^30." 

I fear the fee of our reigning legal magnates for similar serv- 
ices would be at least ten times thirty dollars. 

In illustration of Sergeant's mode of life, I quote again from 
the venerable Binney's eulogy ; " His honor and integrity in all 
that regarded his profession or management of his cause were 
not only above impeachment or imputation, but beyond the 
thought of it. So distinct and universal was this impression, 
that if any man had directed a battery of that sort against him, 
the recoil would have prostrated him to the earth. His heart, 
his mind, his principles, his conscience, his bond to man, his 
bond to Heaven, which he had given early, and which to the 
last he never intentionally violated, would have made it, hu- 
manly speaking, impossible for him to swerve from his integrity. 
It is the best example for the rising generations to have before 
them. He was perfectly fair. There was no evasion, no strat- 
agem, no surprising, no invocation of prejudice, no appeal to un- 
worthy passions — he was far above all these. Mr. Sergeant 
had too much strength indeed to make use of such arts, to say 
nothing of his virtue. He was charitable in doing work at the 
bar without pecuniary compensation — though not without re- 
ward. He did that which, in his judgment, was best, but he 



200 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

did not do it ostentatiously. He did not do it by proclamation, 
informing the court in the presence of the bystanders that he 
did not receive a fee, but that it would make no difference to 
him. He never let his left hand know what his right hand did 
— still less did he ever impose upon the left hand of others by 
informing it of what his right hand had 7iot done." 

We must not forget, in perusing such a character in the light 
of such an eulogy, that Horace Binney was himself, during his 
active career, a fair illustration of his own sentiments. Mr. 
Binney sat in Congress while Andrew Jackson was President, 
and was, perhaps, the ablest advocate of the Bank of the Unit- 
ed States, and therefore one of the stanchest opponents of 
General Jackson's Administration ; but he understood how to 
antagonize measures without assailing men — how to arraign a 
public policy without traducing private character — a rare qual- 
ity, which might be profitably copied by our modern teachers. 
One day he was surprised by a note from the President solicit- 
ing an interview, and the more so because he had just finished 
an exhaustive protest against the President's course in regard 
to the United States Bank. General Jackson met him with all 
his grace, dignity, and cordiality, and said: "I have taken the 
liberty of sending for you, Mr. Binney, to say that I have read 
your speech, which is the most powerful yet made on your side 
of the House. I can not, of course, thank you for the strength 
of your argument, but I am happy to know you as an adversary 
who does not conceive it necessary to employ invective against 
a public officer who believes he has discharged his duty faith- 
fully." I have this interesting fact from good authority. 

John Sergeant and Horace Binney moved together in poli- 
tics and in their profession. Let me employ Mr. Binney's lan- 
guage in 1852 once more : "I honored and respected him to the 
end of his life. I shall honor and respect his memory to the 
end of my own. No trivial incongruities of feeling or opinion, 
no misrepresentations, however arisen; no petty gust; no cloud 



HORACE BINNEY. 20I 

of a hand's breadth, which may and will chill or overcast the 
summer sky of the truest friends ; in a life of fifty-five years not 
a single accident disturbed the foundations of my regard for 
him, or even reached the depths in which they were laid. These 
foundations were laid upon his principles as I well knew them 
fifty years ago. They were laid deep upon that sure basis, and 
they were beyond the reach of change or chance, as his princi- 
ples were." 

Binney was a member of the State Legislature sixty-one years 
ago, in 1806-7 [do not forget he is still living at his old home 
in the city of Philadelphia], and declined a re-election. He 
was a Representative in Congress from Philadelphia from 1833 
to 1835, served as a member of the Committee of Ways and 
Means, and again declined a re-election. Sergeant was in Con- 
gress from 1815 to 1823, from 1827 to 1829, and from 1837 to 
1842. He was especially famous for his part in the great Mis- 
souri Compromise of 1820. He was selected by President John 
Quincy Adams to represent the United States on the Panama 
Commission. He was the Whig candidate for Vice-President 
in 1832, on the same ticket with Henry Clay. He was tender- 
ed the mission to England by General Harrison, which he de- 
clined. 

For half a century these two interesting men were associates 
at the bar, harmonizing in politics, and generally supporting 
the same measures and the same candidates. Their joint ex- 
perience, their blended patriotism, their high sense of honor, 
their fidelity to convictions and to the interests of their city, 
state, and country, can not be too frequently reproduced. We 
tread the path of duty more bravely in the lustre shed from ex- 
amples so unselfish and pure. 

[October 22, 1871.] 

I 2 



ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



XLII. 



A GOOD Story is told of the celebrated George Kremer, who 
figured conspicuously during the " bargain and sale " excite- 
ment forty-five years ago, about the time Henry Clay -was ap- 
pointed Secretary of State by President John Quincy Adams. 
Mr. Kremer represented the old Union and Northumberland 
Congressional district in Pennsylvania, and was a fine type of 
the primitive manners and rugged Democracy of that period. 
He was firmly convinced that Mr. Clay threw his influence 
against General Jackson, by which the electoral vote of Ken- 
tucky was given to Mr. Adams, for a consideration ; and when 
the first place in the Cabinet was tendered to and accepted by 
the Kentucky statesman, honest George "cried aloud and 
spared not." The sensation he created disturbed the politics 
of the whole country, and led to many difierences between pub- 
lic men. John Randolph of Roanoke dilated upon the accu- 
sation against Clay to such an extent that the new Secretary of 
State was compelled to challenge him to mortal combat. But 
I do not propose a chapter on the "bargain and sale." That 
episode is happily ignored by the retiring generation, and is no 
longer recalled as a reproach on the memory of Henry Clay. I 
write simply to revive an incident between Randolph and Kre- 
mer characteristic of both. After one of the peculiar speeches 
of the eccentric Virginian, which he interlarded with copious 
quotations in Latin and Greek, Kremer rose, and, in a strain 
of well-acted indignation, poured forth a torrent of Pennsylva- 
nia German upon the head of the amazed and startled Ran- 
dolph. His violent gesticulations, his loud and boisterous 
tones, his defiant manner, were not more annoying to the impe- 
rious Southerner than the fact that he could not understand a 
word that was spoken. And when honest George took his seat, 
covered with perspiration, Randolph rose and begged the honor- 



PENNSYLVANIA DUTCH. 203 

able gentlemaa from Pennsylvania to enlighten the House and 
the country by translating what he had just uttered. Kremer 
retorted as follows: "I have only to say in reply to my friend 
from Virginia that when he translates the dead languages, 
which he is constantly using for the benefit of us country mem^ 
bers, into something like English, I will be equally liberal in 
translating my living Pennsylvania Dutch into something that 
the House can understand." The laugh was completely against 
Randolph. 

Apart from the beauty of well-written and well-spoken Ger- 
man, and the benefits conferred upon the human race by Ger- 
man philosophers and scholars, there is something irrepressibly 
odd in \\\^ patois of Pennsylvania Dutch, so called. Under the 
influence of my learned friend, Charles Godfrey Leland, this 
mingled dialect has recently acquired a world-wide celebrity. 
His "Hans Breitmann," even including the "dog Latin" he 
weaves into it, is becoming one of the comic classics of En- 
glish-speaking nations. Whether read at the fireside or acted 
in the theatres, it excites irrepressible mirth. Jefferson's Rip 
Van Winkle is a signal illustration of this remark. His inimi- 
table acting, although the story itself amounts to nothing, reach- 
es all hearts, inspiring alternate tears and smiles. Clinton 
Lloyd, Esq., the accomplished chiefclerkof the National House 
of Representatives, has memorized "Hans Breitmann" entire. 
He is a native Pennsylvanian, reared in a community where 
this curious admixture of English and German was once large- 
ly spoken. He is, besides, a cultivated gentleman, and per- 
haps the best-known interpreter of Leland's famous creation. 
I know of few things more pleasant than to sit by and hear 
Lloyd going through the experiences of Hans, the soldier and 
the traveler. I have seen him entertain hundreds of persons of 
all nationalities at one time with this grotesque production. 
Sympathizing fully with the poet, he gives additional flavor to 
his peculiar wit, because he knows the character he describes. 



204 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

whom you almost see passing before you in his diversified 
guises. Mr. Leland is now a resident of London, the friend 
and associate of most of the literary leaders. It must be ex- 
tremely gratifying to him that the amusing poems which he 
threw off in his leisure moments should be read and admired 
in all intellectual circles, and that every stanza he adds in- 
creases their deserved popularity. I can only hope that he is 
fortunate in something more than mere fame, and that his writ- 
ings are contributing to his substantial comfort in the Old 
World. 

Almost as interesting is it to hear Mr. Lloyd reciting James 
Russell Lowell's "Hosea Bigelow;" but the Yankee idiom is 
not so cosmopolitan as the pafois of English and German. The 
same remark applies to negro melodies and plays. The New- 
Englander and the black man are Americans, while Hans Breit- 
mann is the citizen of the world ; his poetry is a medley of the 
tongues of the oldest and most civilized nations, and, as he 
plays many parts and borrows a little from each, he will be re- 
membered when the accent of Brother Jonathan and Uncle 
Tom is lost in the universality of the language that must ulti- 
mately control the whole American continent. 

[October 29, 1871.] 



XLin. 

Slavery and its mysterious inner life has never yet been de- 
scribed. When it is, Reality will surpass Fiction. Uncle Tom's 
Cabin will be rebuilt and newly garnitured. A book detailing 
the operations of the Under-ground Railroad is soon to be pub- 
lished in Philadelphia by William Still, Esq., an intelligent col- 
ored gentleman, which, composed entirely of facts, will supply 
material for indefinite dramas and romances, • It will disclose a 



UNDER-GROUND RAILROAD. 205 

record of unparalleled courage and suffering for the right. The 
narrative of Professor John M. Langston, of Howard Univer- 
sity, at Washington, famous as orator and scholar ; his birth as 
a slave, the education of himself and brother by his white fa- 
ther ; his return,.after many years, to his native town in Virginia, 
as the champion of his race and of their newly acquired free- 
dom ; the thrilling story of Frederick Douglass, told by himself; 
the eventful career of Stephen Smith, the rich colored man of 
Philadelphia, who voted for Jackson in 1832, was afterward dis- 
franchised by the insertion of the word "white" in the consti- 
tution of Pennsylvania in 1838, and again voted under the im- 
mortal act of emancipation; the experience of Ebenezer D. Bas- 
sett, our resident Minister at Hayti ; the struggle for self-im- 
provement of Octavius V. Catto, and the tragedy of his assassi- 
nation ; the early efforts of John Brown, long before he was 
known to the world as the willing martyr of his ideas ; the 
sketch of the inner life of William J. Wilson, vice-president of 
the Freedmen's Savings Institution at Washington, including 
his story of the industry, patience, and economy of his race ; 
the long conflict with slavery of Senator Revels, of Mississippi ; 
the stormy life of Lieutenant-Governor Dunn, of Louisiana; and 
last, not least, the memoir of Robert Purvis, the accomplished 
gentleman and scholar, residing at Byberry, in Philadelphia — 
a memoir which, written by himself, would surpass in the in- 
tensity of its interest many of the famous autobiographies of the 
day — these and their companion pictures might be called the 
genuine " Romance of Reality." The time is coming when 
they can be published without fear and read without prejudice. 
In the light of a civilization which liberated millions, as well 
the slaves of others as the slaves of mere bigotry, men will pon- 
der these volumes with an indignation and surprise not less sin- 
cere because felt for the first time. In the sanctity which sur- 
rounded the institution of slavery — a sanctity resulting from the 
arguments of the clergy, the politicians, and the capitalists, the 



206 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

habits and luxuries of the society created by the submission of 
its fettered miUions, and its influence upon commerce in Eu- 
rope and America — the still small voice of conscience was hush- 
ed. And if the men who had grown rich and great had not 
finally been maddened by the idea that they were irresistible 
and inviolable, slavery would have finally accomplished the 
overthrow of the Government. That idea carried into war saved 
the nation and destroyed its enemies. 

Among the thousand novel incidents of emancipation, one of 
curious interest, familiar to myself and many others, may be re- 
lated : 

John Queen was a light mulatto, five feet ten inches high, 
about thirty-five years of age. He had lived a slave in Anne 
Arundel County, in the State of Maryland, and several years 
before emancipation obtained his free papers. He was harm- 
less, quiet, and inoffensive j but when he was jokingly told that 
the traders were coming to take him back to slavery his eyes 
would flash, and his whole demeanor would change. He would 
exclaim, "Dey neber take me back to slabery. I die in de 
blood first — I die in de blood ! cut out dere hearty eat der liber. 
Is'e free-born, I tell you, Is'e free-born;" and when asked to 
show his papers, he would repeat something like these words : 

"Do you know de H d's?" "Yes, I know them." "Do 

you know Squire C ?" referring to certain old Maryland 

families. *' Do you mind de mornin' old Squire H said, 

* Go, John, go down to de stable, hitch up old Baldy and de sil- 
ber gray, put em in de coach, go to 'Napolis to make out de 

free papers ?' Den old Squire H came down, all dressed 

up, dressed in black silk breeches, silber buckle on de knee, sil- 
ber buckle in de shoes, hair powdered, hanging down de back ; 
John Queen jump on de step behind de coach, and den we all 
go to 'Napolis. When we got dere we all go to de cou7't, and 

dere, in de face of de whole court. Squire H he kiss de 

Book and do declare dat John Queen is a free-born." Upon 



JOHN queen's free PAPERS. 207 

being asked to show his papers, which he never would consent 
to do, the poor half-witted fellow, who had long years be o e 
committed ihem and locked them in his memory, whde he hnn- 
selMd keep the key, in a monotonous recitative repeated some- 
h ng like the following, never varying in the slightest degree 
and always reiterating "dat I'se free-born:" "In de State of 
Maryland! de Ann Arundel County, and de Anno Domm,, >n 
de year o our Lord, de one tousand and de e.ght hundred and 
de forty-seven. In de face of de whole court, I do now dec are 
dat John Queen, who is five feet ten inches in de he.ght, w>d de 
long straight, black hair, yaller in complex.on, w;d a mole on 
de riM.t uroer lip, which is de free-born, in de testimony where- 
o I do hereby, in de State of Maryland, in de County of Ann 
Arundel in de year of our Lord, de Anno Domm. one tousand 
dlht hundred Ind forty-seven, set my hand and de great seal 
of di court, and do Irereby now declare dat de aforesaid John 

Queen is free-born." , , . , i r ^r 

John never paused until he finished this indubitable proof o. 
his freedom, and always seemed to glean satisfaction from hav- 
ing the original in his possession, which he said he never would 
part from save with his heart's blood. Only a few evenings ago 
I heard this incident described in the presence of some of the 
connections of the Maryland families referred to, and they in- 
stantly recognized the picture and the persons preserved m the 
memory of this simple freedman. If I suppress the names, it is 
only because it is unnecessary to revive individual relations to 
a system which does no credit to those who subsisted upon it, 
however unconsciously or innocently. 
[November 5, 1871.] 



208 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



XLIV. 



Shortly after I took possession of the Lancaster InieUigencer, 
more than thirty-four years ago — before I had reached man- 
hood — Mrs. Dickson, the amiable and gentle postmistress of 
that place, handed me a soiled letter directed to " the editor of 
a newspaper," which she said had been in her possession for 
more than a year, and had not been delivered because it had 
no definite address. Upon opening it I found it dated Logans- 
port, Indiana, and signed by George W. Ewing, United States 
Indian Agent. He stated that he had only recently stopped at 
an Indian wigwam for the night on the banks of the Mississi- 
newa, about fifty miles south of Fort Wayne, and found it occu- 
pied by a family who were rich for Indians, and boasted of con- 
siderable property in houses and lands. He went on to say 
that in the course of the evening he noticed that the hair of one 
of the women was light, and her skin under her dress white, and 
so he entered into conversation with her, which was not diffi- 
cult, as he spoke the language of the tribe. She told him she 
was white, but had been carried away when a very small girl. 
She could only remember that her name was Slocum ; that she 
had lived in a little house on the banks of the Susquehanna; 
also the number of her father's family, and the order of their 
ages ; but she could not recall the name of the town from which 
she was taken. Fascinated by this romantic story, yet unde- 
cided how to let the facts be known, he wrote a letter and sent 
it to my native town of Lancaster, as the place nearest the Sus- 
quehanna that he could remember of any importance. After, 
as I have said, sleeping in the post-office for many months, it 
came out through the columns of my little journal, and in that 
way got to the Slocums of Wilkesbarre, being the first intelli- 
gence of the child which had been stolen from them sixty years 
before. The brother of Frances, w^ho w^as only two years and 



FRANCES SLOCUM's ROMANCE. 209 

a half old when his sister was carried off by the Indians, started 
for the Indian country in company with his eldest sister, who 
had aided him to escape, and another brother, then living in 
Ohio, born after the captivity of Frances. After a long journey 
they found a little wigwam among the Miami Indians. "We 
shall know Frances," said the sister, " because she lost the nail 
of her first finger. You, brother, hammered it off in the black- 
smith shop when she was four years old." They entered and 
found a swarthy woman who looked to be seventy-five. She was 
painted, jeweled, and dressed like an Indian in all respects. 
Nothing but her hair and her covered skin indicated her origin. 
They got an interpreter, asked her name and where she was 
born. " How came that nail gone ?" said the eldest sister. She 
answered, " My elder brother pounded it off when I was a little 
child in the shop." They had discovered the long-lost sister. 
They asked her Christian name. She had forgotten it. "Was 
it Frances.?" As if smitten by a revelation, she answered 
"Yes." It was the first time she had heard it pronounced in 
sixty years. Here they were met, two brothers and two sisters, 
after having been separated for more than half a century. The 
brothers were walking the cabin, unable to speak, the sister was 
drowned in tears, but the poor Indian sat motionless and pas- 
sionless. She could not speak a word of English. She did not 
know when Sunday came. Was not this the consummation of 
ignorance in a descendant of the Puritans ? She was carried 
off by the Indians, and when she grew up she married one of 
their number. He either died or ran away, and then she mar- 
ried a Miami chief, since dead. She had two daughters, both 
married, who, thirty-four years ago, lived in all the glory of 
Indian cabins, deer-skin clothes, and cow-skin head-dresses. 
They had horses in abundance, and when the Indian sister ac- 
companied her new relatives, she bridled her horse and mount- 
ed it astride. At night she slept on the floor, with her blanket 
around her. They could not persuade her to return to Wilkes- 



2IO ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

barre, even when the invitation was extended to her children. 
She had always lived with the Indians, they had been kind to 
her, and she promised her last husband on his death-bed she 
would never leave them. It is now nearly ninety-five years 
since this white child was torn from her parents' home in Wy- 
oming Valley. She herself has been gathered to her fathers, 
and most of her double family who were living in 1838, with 
the exception, I believe, of Mr. Joseph Slocum, now one of the 
most influential and respectable citizens of Scranton. Among 
all the changes that have taken place in this long interval, few 
are more interesting than this transformation from civilization 
to barbarism. 

A coincidence even more romantic is soon to be revealed in 
the pages of the remarkable book of William Still, of Philadel- 
phia, entitled the " Under-ground Railroad," referred to in my 
last number. Mr. Still kept a careful memorandum of the suf- 
ferings and trials of his race during the existence of the fugi- 
tive-slave law, in the belief that they would be instructive to 
his posterity rather than from any hope of the overthrow of the 
revolting system of human servitude. But when that passed 
away, and speech became as free as thought, and the printing- 
press, the school-house, the ballot, and every civil right, were 
secured to the colored race, he resolved to spread before the 
w^orld this unprecedented experience. When his book appears 
it will accomplish more than one object. Interesting to the 
literary world, it will undoubtedly facilitate the reunion of other 
colored families, long divided, long sought for, and perhaps to 
this day strangers to each other. The curious similarity be- 
tween the case of the wealthy Slocums in Wyoming Valley and 
the experience of Mr. Still will be intensified when this book is 
published. Here we find the story of Peter Still, torn from his 
mother when a little boy of six, and for more than forty years a 
slave in Alabama, totally destitute of all knowledge of his par- 
ents. We are told how by extreme economy and overwork he 



DAVID PAUL BROWN. 211 

saved about five hundred dollars with which to buy his ransom 
— how he started in search of his mother and kindred — how he 
reached Philadelphia, where, by having notices read in the col- 
ored churches that more than forty years before " two little 
boys were kidnapped and carried South," he obtained informa- 
tion in regard to them — how, after traveling sixteen hundred 
miles, the first man Peter Still sought advice from was his broth- 
er, the author of this very book on the Under-ground Railroad, 
whom he had never seen or heard of — how, after this mutual 
recognition, the self-ransomed captive was destined again to 
suffer the keenest pangs of sorrow for his own wife and chil- 
dren, whom he had left in Alabama in bondage — how, finally, 
a brave white man, Seth Conklin, proceeded to Alabama, car- 
ried off this wife and children, and was retaken with them, in 
Indiana, and perished while he was being carried in irons back 
to the South, by leaping from the boat in which they were con- 
fined. The volume, containing this and other equally romantic 
yet truthful stories, will soon be out, and, my word for it, no 
book of the times will be more eagerly read or more profitably 
remembered. 

[November 12, 1871,] 



XLV. 

David Paul Brown, of Philadelphia, has been for half a 
century the favorite orator of the American bar. His renown 
was national before he was thirty; and as he not only never 
sought but resolutely declined office, and rarely practiced in the 
courts of other States, his fame is mainly the outgrowth of pro- 
fessional efforts in his native city. He is still living in Phila- 
delphia, in his seventy-seventh year, the most active veteran of 
his time. Who can not recall him in the flush of his manhood ? 



212 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Of middle height, compactly made, with a full, round chest; his 
forehead high and broad, eyes black, mouth large, and filled 
with the finest teeth, he is frequently seen on the streets, al- 
most as erect and graceful as when he thrilled our court-rooms 
and was followed by crowds of admirers. Mr. Brown was al- 
ways rather an exquisite in his dress, and to this day his blue 
coat and brass buttons, buff vest and light pantaloons, gloved 
hands, neat boots, and rather rakish hat, prove the youthfulness 
of his tastes and the gayety of his disposition. He is, perhaps, 
too fond of dress ; but he defends his peculiarity by saying 
" that he had never known a man to speak well in clumsy boots, 
nor to have a clear mind with dirty hands and face ; that he 
had known many a fop that was not a fool, and many a sloven 
that was not a Solomon." "A becoming decency of exterior," 
he says, " may not be necessary for ourselves, but is agreeable 
to others ; and while it may render a fool more contemptible, 
it serves to embellish inherent worth. It is like the polish of 
the diamond, taking something, perhaps, from its weight, but 
adding much to its brilliancy and attraction." 

Another peculiarity of David Paul Brown is his disregard of 
money. He has often been heard to say that he never was so 
rich and happy as in his early youth ; for then, in the language 
of Socrates, he wanted least, and therefore approached nearer 
to the gods, who wanted nothing. He is not extravagant in the 
mere pleasures of the world. His attire is rich, but his habits 
simple and abstemious. To these he attributes his entire free- 
dom from pain and diseases of every sort. Money has no value 
in his eyes. Its receipt gives him no pleasure — its expenditure 
no annoyance. From his early manhood to the present, though 
his professional income has exceeded a quarter of a million, the 
same indifference, the same recklessness, in regard to wealth, 
has marked his career. A characteristic anecdote is told in 
this connection. He studied law with the late William Rawle, 
a lawyer of universal celebrity, whose writings and example are 



WILLIAM RAWLE. 



213 



fondly treasured by the profession. The preceptor and student 
met one day, after the latter had attained a high position at the 
bar. " My dear Mr. Rawle," said Mr. Brown, " fifteen years 
ago I gave you my check for ^400, in return for your valuable 
legal instruction ; since that time I find I have received for pro- 
fessional services upward of $100,000." " I know," replied the 
preceptor (himself a most liberal-minded man), " you have been 
very busy, and it is necessary to be very busy for a young man 
to make such a sum in so short a time." " Oh ! but," rejoined 
Mr. Brown, " you don't know how busy I have been. I have 
spent all ; there is not a dollar left. Yes, I have spent it on 
principle. There are two kinds of extravagance : that which 
arises from a love of display, and that which springs from con- 
tempt of wealth. Mine is the last. If I could become rich, I 
should become indolent, and lose in fame what I gained in 
money. This is not the case, perhaps, with all, but it is with 
me." The old gentleman laughed heartily at the amusing can- 
dor of his former eleve. To show the high estimation in which 
the pupil was held by his revered preceptor, I transcribe the 
following letter, written by him to Mr. Brown some ten years 
after his admission. The applause of such a man is worth 
more than that of a whole theatre of critics : 

" My Dear Sir, — You borrowed of me some time ago the first volume 
of Guthrie's Quintilian. Will you allow me to send you the second, with 
the request that you will receive them both into your library ? 

"The plain binding will not affect the internal merit of an author who, 
the first that is known to us, systematically and fully laid down the precepts 
not only of forensic but of general oratory, and who, were he now living, 
would be delighted to perceive a full illustration of what he requires to form 
an accomplished orator in yourself. 

" With unfeigned respect and esteem, I am, dear sir, 

" Your affectionate friend, W. Rawle. 

"March 31, 1828. 

"To David Paul Brown, Esq." 

And it is as an orator that he deserves to be remembered. 



214 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

As a criminal lawyer he has few equals. His examination of 
witnesses and his appeals to the jury illustrate his peculiar tal- 
ents. A voice of rare compass and sweetness; a command of 
the best phrases; a master of action, his pathos melts and sub- 
dues, his invective startles and dismays. Once, on a celebrated 
trial, he objected to a certain witness being heard because the 
witness was a convict. Great consternation ensued. The wit- 
ness was indignant, spoke of his good character, and defied his 
accuser. But he had met his master. Mr. Brown fixed his 
searching eye upon him, and then spoke : "I have objected to 
your evidence, sir. This objection is founded upon a knowl- 
edge of your character. Answ^er me, sir. Were you not con- 
victed and punished in the State of Delaware for a heinous 
crime ?" " No, sir !" This was uttered with an evidently as- 
sumed boldness. " Now," said the lawyer, " if I were to strip 
'jp the sleeves of your coat, and point to the letter Ji branded 
on your right arm, near the shoulder, and say this was done at 
New Castle, Delaware, what answer would you make ?" The 
poor wretch was crushed; his artificial courage melted away 
before the fire of an intellectual eye. It is scarcely necessary 
to add that Mr. Brown won his cause. Industrious and perse- 
vering, he never was the slave of the black-letter. He always 
delighted in literature, and was a consummate Shakespearian 
interpreter. Chief Justice Gibson, of Pennsylvania, a very em- 
inent authority, said, "He does not quote Shakespeare — he 
speaks Shakespeare." It was natural that he should affect the 
drama. His rhetoric, his manner, his voice, were modeled after 
the best standards, and he firmly believed that the very best 
case was improved by being set forth gracefully and eloquently. 
Hence he alternated, or rather relieved the heavy toil of his 
profession by reading and writing poetry, by lectures on " Ham- 
let," by orations on patriotic subjects, and by a mass of miscel- 
laneous composition. *' How is it possible you can do so much 
business?" was the question of a friend. " Because," was the 



THE AMERICAN FORUM. 215 

practical reply, "I have got so much to do." "But," was the 
rejoinder, "how can you indulge in poetry and general litera- 
ture ?" " Because," he replied-—" because it enables me to re- 
turn to my more rugged pursuits with greater alacrity and re- 
newed strength. The mind takes its direction from habit; if 
you wish to strengthen it you must direct it for a time into 
other channels, and thereby refresh and improve it. A mere 
lawyer is a mere jackass, and has never the power to unload 
himself; whereas I consider the advocate — the thoroughly ac- 
complished advocate — the highest style of a man. He is al- 
ways ready to learn, and always ready to teach. Hortensius 
was a lawyer, Cicero an orator. The one is forgotten, the other 
is immortal." He wrote " Sertorius, or the Roman Patriot," a 
tragedy, in 1830; "The Prophet of St. Paul," a melodrama; and 
a farce called "Love and Honor, or the Generous Soldier." 
The elder Booth took the leading character in the first, which 
was represented nine times. Mr. Brown was not vain of these 
productions. He said, quaintly enough, " I must say they de- 
rived greater celebrity from their author than their author will 
derive from them." 

He has written much on other subjects. "The Forum, or 
Forty Years' full Practice at the Philadelphia Bar," a work 
published by subscription, in 1856, in two large volumes, is a 
mine of learning to student and statesman. After a review of 
the practice of the law before the Revolution, and its history 
from the Declaration of Independence to the year 1856, we 
have a series of biographical sketches of distinguished American 
lawyers, with an entertaining description of their personal ap- 
pearance, manners, dress, etc. Justices Washington, Tilghman, 
Breckinridge, and others, now deceased, are passed in review, 
and then he takes up the living. The celebrated trials which 
have occurred in our civil and criminal courts (in many of 
v/hich he took part) are described, with anecdotes of the giants 
of the bench and bar, and a chapter on legal wit. " The Golden 



2l6 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Rules for the Examination of Witnesses," " Capital Hints in 
Capital Cases," and "Instructions from a Father to his Son," 
are still in demand, and have passed through several editions. 

He can not yet be said to have left the arena in which, for 
fifty-six years, he has been so conspicuous an actor. He lives 
in honored and vigorous old age, keenly alive to all the great 
events of an eventful era. Even as I write I have some of his 
MSS. before me. His thoughts are clearly stated, and his con- 
tributions practical and pleasing. He is still averse to party 
politics, though, as ever, an ardent Republican patriot. His 
passion for literature is unabated, and if he touches public 
questions, it is only in a tolerant and judicial spirit. Few men 
have enjoyed life more thoroughly; few have seen more of our 
mighty minds ; and none survive with a warmer love of country 
or a larger share of the love of their countrymen. He has 
passed the Psalmist's age, and bids fair to live to see the hun- 
dredth anniversary of that Declaration of Independence of 
which he has been one of the most gifted of interpreters and 
champions. 

[November 19, 1871.] 



XLVI. 

July 4, 1876, will be a proud and happy day to those who 
shall live to see it, especially in Philadelphia, where it is to be 
celebrated under peculiar historical and national auspices, as 
the hundredth anniversary of our independence. A little more 
than four years and a half remain to digest plans and to execute 
them. These will be various and numerous, and many will be 
visionary and impracticable. The primal conditions to success 
should be discrimination against pretenders — a cultivated 
knowledge of and taste for art, and a resolute resistance to ev- 



THE CENTENARY COxMMISSION. 



217 



ery thing selfish or corrupt. Happily the men at the head of 
Fairmount Park, which, with its twenty-eight hundred acres, is 
to-day the largest of its kind in the world, and in a few years 
will be the completest and loveliest, are generally citizens of 
national and local reputation. As they will have much to do 
with the preliminaries and control of the Centenary, I give their 
names for the benefit of those who may want some assurance 
that their efforts and interest in this important movement shall 
not be wasted: Morton McMichael (president), journalist; 
General George G. Meade (vice-president), topographical en- 
gineer ; Samuel W. Cattell, manufacturer ; Theodore Cuyler, 
■attorney-at-law; Daniel M. Fox, real-estate agent; Frederick 
Graeff, civil engineer; Joseph Harrison, Jr., manufacturer; 
Henry Huhn, coal shipper; Strickland Kneass, surveyor; Henry 
M. Phillips, attorney-at-law; Eli K. Price, attorney-at-law; Jon- 
athan H. Pugh, locksmith; Gustavus Remak, attorney-at-law; 
William Sellers, machinist; John Welsh, merchant; James Mc- 
Manes, gentleman. There is hardly one name in this list that 
is not a guarantee of integrity and responsibility. Several are 
connoisseurs of art, the owners of fine pictures and statuary, and 
nearly all men of wealth. They represent different vocations and 
both parties. Having no other motive but that which concerns 
the public, and no temptation but to honor themselves and the 
country, they will be to Philadelphia what the New York Central 
Park Commission was before Sweeny and Tweed polluted it with 
their creatures, and removed Colonel Stebbins, its president, and 
Mr. Green, its incorruptible treasurer. The confidence crystal- 
lized around the New York Park Commission, under the admin- 
istration of these excellent men, was such that at one time it 
was proposed to place the best portion of the city government 
in their hands. Two short years avenged the wrong inflicted 
in their rude removal. The people rose against Tammany, and 
the historical Committee of Seventy, their agent in the rescue 
and redemption of their great State and city, had Colonel H. 

K 



2l8 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

G. Stebbins for its president, and Mr. Green as his most efficient 
auxiliary ; and now both are to go back to the Central Park 
Commission, as if to complete their own vindication and the 
retribution of the spoilers. Let us take care to maintain the 
Philadelphia Park Commission, soon to enter upon a wider field 
of action, and to act in conjunction with the preparations for 
the grandest national event of the country, so that, with com- 
mensurate dignity and energy, it may fulfill the mission assigned 
to it. 

One suggestion is made in connection with the Centenary of 
Independence which deserves the consideration of the Fair- 
mount Park Commission. There is not a county in Pennsyl- 
vania that can not point to names of national and even world- 
wide renown. I need not recount a catalogue brilliant with the 
services of Benjamin Franklin, Robert Morris, Anthony Wayne, 
Robert Fulton, Lindley Murray, David Rittenhouse, Peter Muh- 
lenberg, and their contemporaries and successors in war and 
peace, in science and in statesmanship, in art, in law, in medicine, 
in religion, in manufactures, and in skilled labor. The suggestion 
is that every county should select one of these departed wor- 
thies, and have a colossal statue to represent him, in bronze, 
marble, or iron, ready for Fairmount Park in season for the 
Centenary, there to remain during all time. The tribute would 
be graceful, and the cost comparatively small. There is not a 
county in Pennsylvania that could not easily afford to perpetu- 
ate the features of one of its illustrious sons. The condition 
precedent, however, should be that the work itself should be 
done by an accomplished artist. Save us, O Park Commission ! 
from the effigies and caricatures that have so often disfigured 
and disgraced our lovely cities, and that still dishonor our na- 
tion's capital. " Art is long," says the poet. Art is not the 
growth of the hour, but of the ages. As it is created to endure, 
it can not graduate at once. If years of toil, study, and patience 
are essential to ripen a statesman, a scholar, a philosopher, a 



THE CENTENARY OF SEVENTY-SIX. 219 

poet, or a complete mechanic, so are they essential to the cre- 
ation of an artist, who should be a combination of varied learn- 
ing. We have some fine specimens of American genius. Our 
Powers, Story, Rogers, Rothermel, Miss Hosmer, Reade, Ball, 
Baillie, Miss Stebbins, Church, Bierstadt, etc., are acknowledged 
leaders. But we should not be ashamed to lay under contribu- 
tion the best minds of Europe when we come to the preserva- 
tion of the memorials of those who have done so much for the 
liberty and the elevation of the whole human race. No crude 
brain or 'prentice hand should be employed, simply because it 
is of domestic growth, and no acknowledged master should be 
excluded because he was born under French, Italian, German, 
or English skies. As we shall invite the liberal thinkers of all 
nations to join us on the Fourth of July, 1876 — as we shall look 
for John Bright, Louis Kossuth, Edouard Laboulaye, Guiseppe 
Garibaldi, Victor Hugo, Emilio Castelar, Guiseppe Mazzini, Al- 
fred Tennyson, Charles Reade, and the republican teachers of 
Germany, we must extend a welcome, at least as warm, to the 
ripe and aspiring minds who are beautifying the galleries, 
churches, and streets of Paris, London, Berlin, Dresden, Mu- 
nich, Brussels, Cologne, Frankfort, Dusseldorf, Florence, Na- 
ples, Venice, Turin, and Imperial Rome. Art knows no party 
and no country. America is eventually and inexorably the 
chief of civilization. Opening her arms to all the children of 
men, she will gather to her side with a precious love those for- 
tunate ones whom God has most generously crowned with his 
richest gifts. An able writer, in a late number of a London 
magazine. Temple Bar^ thus sets forth the verdict of enlightened 
Europe, in a contrast between this country and France. We 
can not be unmindful of the duty here taught us in our relations 
to the rest of mankind : 

" America, not France, has been the propagandist of democ- 
racy, and has instituted the only successful republic of ancient 
or modern times — a republic of which the foundations have 



2 20 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

been cemented by no unrighteously spilled blood, nor under- 
mined by fantastic social theories ; a republic founded on rea- 
son, on the unalterable principles of humanity, neither twisted 
nor forced from their natural channels to harmonize with indi- 
vidual ideas ; on the purely normal development of certain 
conditions of society and their only practical solution. Ameri- 
can republicanism means the advancement of the human race ; 
French republicanism its destruction. Commerce and the arts 
of peace are the weapons of the one ; fire and sword are the 
weapons of the other." 
[November 26, 1871.] 



XLVII. 

More than twenty years ago I made the acquaintance of 
David Hoffman, of Baltimore, the eminent lawyer and legal 
writer, who died of apoplexy shortly after in the city of New 
York, seventy years old. I was introduced to him at the din- 
ner-table of Charles Jared Ingersoll, then living in Walnut 
Street, near Fifth, in the city of Philadelphia, an equally inter- 
esting character, of more experience, if not profounder learning, 
who was born in 1782, and died on the 14th of May, 1862, at 
the great age of eighty. Marked deeply in my memory of that 
afternoon were two anecdotes of General Washington, whom 
these interesting veterans had known in their youth. Mr. Hoff- 
man, while playfully reminding his contemporary and friend of 
his ancient Federalism [Mr. Ingersoll was one of the ablest of 
the Democratic leaders at the time], took special pains to illus- 
trate his own consistent attachment to what he was pleased to 
call the doctrines and teachings of Washington, by relating how, 
as a lad of twelve, he had met the Father of his Country at 
Beltzhoover's Hotel, in Light Street, Baltimore. An immense 



GEORGE WASHINGTON. 221 

crowd had assembled to greet the patriot. Hoffman, with two 
other boys, lingered after the concourse had dispersed, for an 
opportunity to see and converse with the honored guest. Wash- 
ington had retired to his chamber, but answered the knock of 
the boys by opening his door and inviting them in. In those 
days the French republicans had a large class of imitators and 
followers in the United States, and Hoffman's two companions 
wore what was known as the Jefferson or French cockade in 
their caps. After Washington had asked their names, he turned 
to Hoffman and said, " I see that you have no cockade ; will 
you allow me to make one for you ?" And calling a servant, 
he directed him to purchase a piece of black ribbon, and " with 
this," said Mr. Hoffman, " he cut out for me a bUck cockade, 
which he pinned to my cap with his own hands ; and that is 
why I have remained a Washington Federalist to this day, and 
why I shall die one." Mr. IngersoU followed with an incident 
not less interesting. In his thirteenth year he had seen Gen- 
eral AVashington in Philadelphia. Playing around his residence 
in Market Street, near Fifth, with some of the children connected 
with the Washington family, he was persuaded into the house, 
and dined at the table with the great man, his wife, Mrs. Martha 
Washington, and his military aids or secretaries. Mr. IngersoU 
described Washington as stately and austere. No conversation 
took place during the meal. He filled his own glass of madeira 
silently, passed the decanter to his lady, and then took wine 
with the guests, the boys inclusive. It was a long and quiet 
repast, and the boys were glad when it was over. Washington 
rose first, and passed to his front door, where three horses were 
in waiting in the hands of the grooms ; the General mounted 
one, the aids the others, and all three rode rapidly out of Fifth 
Street. 

There are not many living who could relate similar experi- 
ences. Mrs. Mary Ellet, whose memoir I had the honor of 
writing, and who lived to be nearly ninety, dying in the city of 



222 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Philadelphia about two years ago, was full of these reminiscen- 
ces. There are doubtless old families whose records and recol- 
lections abound in stories of the Revolutionary and ante-Revo- 
lutionary heroes and statesmen. As we approach the Centen- 
nial Anniversary of American Independence these materials 
ought to be collected and edited. Our Historical Societies 
could in no better way honor the day and increase their useful- 
ness than by publishing every thing pertaining to the immortal 
characters who deliberated at Philadelphia during the early 
stages of the Revolution, and down to the period when the seat 
of the National Government was finally removed to the city of 
Washington, at the beginning of the century. There is hardly 
an old State, from Maine to South Carolina, that is not instinct 
with private and personal recollections of these men and their 
works. In the five years between now and the 4th of July, 
1876, much could be gathered from these sources to add to the 
interest of that auspicious anniversary, and to perpetuate our 
gratitude for those who first destroyed the British power, and 
then laid the foundations of American liberty on this continent. 

[December 3, 1871.] 



XLVIII. 

From the month of December, i860, to the 19th of April, 186 1, 
we made history like magic. Parties dissolved and sections 
consolidated. Professed politicians became practical patriots; 
professed patriots became practical traitors. Andrew Johnson 
struck the first blow on the 19th of December, i860, in the 
Senate, and continued pounding against the Secessionists all 
through the war, insanely changing his course only when assas- 
sination and accident made him President — throwing away the 
ripest fruits of what seemed to be honest endeavors, and that 



FOUR MONTHS OF EXCITEMENT. 223 

golden opportunity which rarely comes more than once in a 
lifetime. Of Buchanan's Cabinet, General Cass, Howell Cobb, 
and John B. Floyd all resigned at an early day, and Jacob 
Thompson later — Cass in the spirit of profound attachment to 
the Constitution ; the others with defiance and threats. The 
two Houses of Congress were two theatres. The galleries were 
filled with excited spectators. Few speeches were made by the 
Union men, and almost none by the Republicans, until honest 
Ben Wade, of Ohio, broke silence and gave tongue to the feel- 
ings of an outraged people. Especially was Philadelphia an 
interesting scene during these initial months. The meeting at 
the Board of Trade Rooms on Thursday, the 3d of January, 
1861, called to decide "What measures should be adopted in 
the-present condition of our national affairs," was an extraordi- 
nary event. The veteran Colonel Cephas G. Childs presided. 
There were some differences between those who participated, 
but the sentiment of devotion to the Union was almost unani- 
mous. That meeting resulted in a committee to make prepa- 
rations for a larger demonstration at National Hall, on the even- 
ing of the Saturday succeeding, January 5, 186 1. In looking 
over the names of those who took part in that monster and 
electric popular upheaval I find representatives of all parties. 
Many have passed away. We no longer see the familiar forms 
of Commodore Charles Stewart, Evans Rogers, J. Murray Rush, 
Joseph R. Ingersoll, Edward Coles, George W. Nebinger, John 
B. Myers, John Grigg, Oswald Thompson, Henry Horn, Cephas 
G. Childs, Edward Gratz, George A. Cofiey, John M. Butler, 
James Landy, Edward G. Webb, Robert T. Carter, and George, 
W. Thorn. All these have gone. Among the resolutions adopt- 
ed and indorsed by the Republicans and many of the Demo- 
cratic leaders of Philadelphia, was the following axiomatic and 
fundamental declaration : 

"That all persons who wage war against the United States 
for the purpose of destroying the Government established by 



224 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

our fathers, and for any other purpose whatever, or who aid, 
sanction, counsel, or encourage them, can not be regarded in 
any other light than as public enemies." 

The o;entleman who introduced the resolutions was J. Mur- 
ray Rush, since deceased, son of the late venerable Richard 
Rush, widely known as a consummate statesman. Co-opera- 
ting with him were such Philadelphia Democrats as General 
Robert Patterson, Lewis C. Cassidy, William A. Porter, George 
Northrop, Benjamin Rush, and George W. Nebinger. The vet- 
eran William D. Lewis, who presided, and whose speech was as 
full of fire as any of the younger orators, and Horace Binney, 
who wrote a glowing appeal, now almost a centenarian, are yet 
among us. 

Other cities and towns were equally prompt and outspoken, 
. but Philadelphia, with Boston, took the start and maintained it. 
When war was inevitable, Philadelphia, like Boston, became a 
rendezvous of loyal spirits. She symbolized her purpose by 
her memorable reception of Mi. Lincoln at Independence Hall, 
on the 22d of February, 1861; by her first welcome to the 
Union troops as they passed along Washington Avenue to the 
national capital ; by the impromptu organization of the Cooper- 
Shop Refreshment Saloon, which soon became a national Mec- 
ca; by her magnificent Sanitary Fair; and her great Union 
League, beginning with a few gentlemen at a social meeting, 
and increasing into a brotherhood of seventeen hundred, wield- 
ing a potential influence in local. State, and general politics— a 
society not less distinguished for the culture of its members 
than for the gracious hospitalities extended to liberal strangers 
of every sect and clime. 

On the day after the firing upon Fort Sumter I met Stephen 
A. Douglas upon Pennsylvania Avenue, in the city of Washing- 
ton.* Naturally anxious to ascertain what part he would take 
in coming events, I put the question to him, "What is now to 
be done ? My dear friend, what are we to do?" 



STEPHEN A. DOUGLAS. 225 

I shall never forget his answer : " We must fight for our coun- 
try and forget all differences. There can be but two parties — 
the party of patriots and the party of traitors. We belong to 
the first." Abraham Lincoln was President. His old adver- 
sary, who had defeated him for Senator in 1858, and whom he 
(Lincoln) had defeated for President in i860, called that very 
day at the White House and proffered his counsel and his serv- 
ices. The firing upon Sumter on the 14th of April, followed by 
the attack upon the Massachusetts troops on the 19th of the 
same month, raised the question how the soldiers of the North 
were to reach the capital, already beleaguered by the prepared 
hosts of the South. It was in the discussion of this question 
that Mr. Lincoln made the memorable remark, "If we can not 
pass over Baltimore, or under Baltimore, we must necessarily 
pass through Baltimore;" and it was in one of his interviews 
that Judge Douglas pressed the suggestion which originated in 
Massachusetts that we might go 7-oiuid Baltimore, and reach 
Washington via Annapolis by water — a suggestion subsequent- 
ly successfully carried out. During this cordial intercourse 
Mr. Lincoln solicited Judge Douglas to go to the West and 
raise his voice in favor of the Government ; and it was in re- 
sponse to this request that the great Senator turned his face 
homeward, and made the magnetic speech which aroused his 
followers, and gave to the Administration that timely support 
which helped to fill our armies, to increase the Republican 
column, and to add to Republican counsels the culture and 
courage of the flower of the Democratic party. Let me quote 
this his farewell speech at Chicago on the first of May, 186 1 — 
the faithful echo to Mr. Lincoln's affectionate appeal in the pre- 
ceding April. These golden words should never be forgotten: 

" The election of Mr. Lincoln is a mere pretext. The present 
secession movement is the result of an enormous conspiracy 
formed more than a year since — formed by leaders in the South- 
ern Confederacy more than twelve months ago. They use the 

K 2 



226 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

slavery question as a means to aid the accomplishment of their 
ends. They desired the election of a Northern candidate by a 
sectional vote, in order to show that the two sections can not 
live together. When the history of the two years from the Le- 
compton question down to the Presidential election shall be 
written it will be shown that the scheme was deliberately made 
to break up this Union. 

"They desired a Northern Republican to be elected by a 
purely Northern vote, and then assign this fact as a reason why 
the sections can not live together. If the Disunion candidate 
in the late Presidential contest had carried the united South, 
their scheme was, the Northern candidate successful, to seize the 
capital last spring, and, by a united South and a divided North, 
hold it. Their scheme was defeated in the defeat of the Dis- 
union candidate in several of the Southern States. 

" But this is no time for a detail of causes. The conspiracy 
is now known ; armies have been raised ; war is levied to ac- 
complish it. There are only two sides to the question. Every 
man must be for the United States or against it. There can be 
no neutrals in this war — only patriots or traitors." 

A little more than a month after (June 3, 1861), Stephen A. 
Douglas died at Chicago, aged forty-eight years and two months. 
But Abraham Lincoln did not forget him. He directed the De- 
partments to be clothed in mourning and the colors of the dif- 
ferent Union regiments to be craped. Nor did his sympathy 
end in words. He seized the first occasion to honor the sons 
of Douglas — an example fitly followed by General Grant. Rob- 
ert Martin Douglas is one of the President's private secretaries, 
and his brother, Stephen A. Douglas, Jr., a leading Republican 
in North Carolina, in full accord with the Administration. It is 
gratifying to add, as I feel I may now do by authority, that had 
Judge Douglas lived he would have been called into the Ad- 
ministration of Abraham Lincoln, or placed in one of the high- 
est military commands. The relations of the present Chief 



CALEB GUSHING. 227 

Magistrate to the friends of Douglas were closer and more in- 
timate than those of Mr. Lincoln, and it is more than probable 
that had Douglas survived he would to-day be one of the coun- 
selors of President Grant, who himself was a citizen of Illinois 
at the time Judge Douglas was sweeping the Buchanan hosts 
out of the field. John A. Rawlins, the nearest friend and Sec- 
retary of War of Grant, was also the nearest friend of Douglas. 
What a power Douglas would have been, enlisted on the right 
side, with all his prophecies proved, all his Southern enemies 
crushed, with his plan of transcontinental railroads vindicated 
and increased, with our new Territories controlled and freed 
by the voice of the people, with the Mormon problem he so 
boldly attacked on the eve of solution, and the great West re- 
alizing every day his hopes of supreme empire ! 

[December 10, 187 1.] 



XLIX. 

No member of the Geneva Conference raised under the 
Treaty of Washington to adjust questions arising out of that 
convention will attract more notice than the senior counsel of 
the American members, Caleb Gushing, of Massachusetts. Born 
on the 17th of January, 1800, and therefore on the verge of 
seventy-two, he is, for his years, one of the most vigorous intel- 
lects in the world. His long career of more than half a cent- 
ury has been singularly varied. A graduate of Harvard Col- 
lege in 1817, subsequently a tutor of mathematics and natural 
philosophy, he studied law at Cambridge, and settled at New- 
buryport, still his Massachusetts residence, to practice the pro- 
fession which he formally entered in 1822. In 1825-26 he 
served in the Legislature of the State, in 1829 visited Europe, 
and published on his return "Reminiscences of Spain," a de- 



228 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

lightful book, and a profound review of the Revolution in 
France. He was also one of the favorite writers of the old 
North American Review. In 1833-34 he was again elected to 
the Legislature, and was a Representative in Congress from 
1835 to 1843. Appointed by President Tyler commissioner 
to China, he negotiated an important treaty. On his return, 
in 1846, he was again elected to the State Legislature. In 1847 
he was chosen colonel of volunteers in the Mexican war, and 
was afterward made brigadier-general by President Polk. In 
1850 he was elected for the fifth time to the State Legislature, 
and in 185 1 made a Justice of the Supreme Court of Massa- 
chusetts. When President Pierce was elected, Caleb Cushing 
was made his Attorney-General, and at the end of his term he 
returned to Massachusetts, and was again elected to the Legis- 
lature. He was president of the Democratic Charleston Con- 
vention in i860 to nominate a President, and in July, 1866, was 
appointed by Andrew Johnson one of the three commissioners 
to codify and revise the laws of the United States. When he 
accepted the post of American counselor to the commissioners 
under the English treaty he was the advocate of the Mexican 
Government before the United States and Mexican Claims 
Commission. Few men living can point to such an experience 
— few are better qualified by varied acquirements and personal 
address to cope with the ripe and thorough statesmen sent by 
Great Britain to Geneva. 

General Cushing was for a long time one of the ablest of the 
Whig leaders; and when John Tyler severed his connection 
with that party, he and Henry A. Wise, and one or two more, 
constituted what was called the Tyler Guard in the House. 
After that he gradually changed his course, and became as 
prominent a leader of the Democrats. At present, without any 
special party proclivities — having reached what Mr. Sumner 
calls "the philosophic age" — he devotes himself to law and 
literature. It is not denied that he is frequently employed at 



CALEB GUSHING. 229 

the Department of State, and no doubt by other Departments, 
in the preparation of important papers. I have heard him at 
a dinner-table conversing in French, Spanish, English, and Ger- 
man. His style of speaking is exceedingly fascinating. Some 
eighteen years ago I was present at an oratorical combat be- 
tween him and Jefferson Davis at Newark, N. J., where Presi- 
dent Pierce halted on his way to the opening of the Crystal 
Palace at New York. They were well matched. Davis had 
the reputation of being one of the most graceful of the Southern 
debaters, but he found more than an equal in the Massachusetts 
dialectician. As a newspaper writer he is unsurpassed. While 
I was one of the editors of the National Democratic organ dur- 
ing Pierce's Administration, Attorney-General Gushing, although 
deeply immersed in the business of his Department, hardly let a 
day pass without sending me an editorial on some subject, and 
he frequently aided me on the Washington Chrofiicle. He was 
at home on finance, on law, and especially on foreign questions. 
In society he is delightful. Excelling in conversation, his rem- 
iniscences are original and graphic. It is very interesting to 
sit by and hear him talk of the characters of the past without 
hatred or prejudice. A man of large wealth, inherited and self- 
earned, a widower without children, fond of labor, of matchless 
excellence as a practitioner in the Supreme Court of the United 
States, he is also a great student — devouring every new book as 
it comes out, novels inclusive, and remembering every thing he 
reads. His health is good, his activity remarkable, his habits 
temperate. Invited every where in Washington, he is the orna- 
ment of every circle, and it is not going too far to sly that, 
gracious, polite, and agreeable as all educated Englishmen are — 
especially those reared in high life — among his associates in 
the Geneva mission he will be one of the most popular. I 
could run this notice of Caleb Gushing into several columns, 
but I will close my hasty tribute to a remarkable man with an 
extract from one of his speeches in 1836, while he was a Whig 



230 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

member of the House of Representatives, as a specimen of his 
style. In all that has been written against the enemies of the 
Union, nothing finer can be found. I commend it to the spe- 
cial consideration of his old friend, Mr. Jefferson Davis : 

"I pray to God, if in the decree of his Providence he have 
any mercy in store for me, not to suffer me to behold the hour 
of its dissolution; its glory extinct; the banner of its pride rent 
and trampled in the dust; its nationality a moral of history; its 
grandeur a lustrous vision of the morning slumber vanished ; 
its liberty a disembodied spirit, brooding like the genius of the 
Past amid the prostrate monuments of its old magnificence. 
To him that shall compass or plot the dissolution of this Union, 
I would apply language resembling what I remember to have 
seen of an old anathema : Wherever fire burns or water runs; 
wherever ship floats or land is tilled ; wherever the skies vault 
themselves or the lark carols to the dawn, or sun shines or earth 
greens in his ray; wherever God is worshiped in temples or 
heard in thunder; wherever man is honored or woman loved — 
there, from thenceforth and forever, shall there be to him no 
part or lot in the honor of man or the love of woman. Ixion's 
revolving wheel, the overmantling cup at which Tantalus may 
not slake his unquenchable thirst; the insatiate vulture gnaw- 
ing at the immortal heart of Prometheus; the rebel giants 
writhing in the volcanic fires of ^tna — are but faint types of 
his doom." 

[December 17, 1871.] 



L. 

Christmas is one of the holidays when childhood joyously 
looks forward, and manhood solemnly looks back. The one 
lives in anticipation of happy years to come — the other lives 



WASHINGTON IN 1839. 23 1 

over the years that have gone. In this, the fiftieth number of 
these anecdotes, which, when commenced, I did not suppose 
would extend to twenty, I am reminded of a season every where 
celebrated by the Christian world, and I quietly turn over the 
leaves of memory to see if I can not restore a few of the events 
that mark this time in former years. My first visit to Wash- 
ington was in the holidays of 1839, thirty-two years ago, when 
Martin Van Buren was President, Richard M. Johnson Vice- 
President, John Forsyth Secretary of State, Levi Woodbury 
Secretary of the Treasury, Joel R. Poinset Secretary of War, 
James K. Paulding Secretary of the Navy, John M. Niles Post- 
master-General, Felix Grundy Attorney-General; when Henry 
Clay, Daniel Webster, James Buchanan, Silas Wright, John C. 
Calhoun, Robert J. Walker, Samuel L. Southard, and William 
C.Preston were Senators in Congress; when James K.Polk 
was Speaker of the House, William R. King President/;-^ te7n- 
pore of the Senate, and Roger B. Taney Chief Justice of the 
Supreme Court. Not one of these names now figures on the 
roll of living men. Washington was then little more than a 
straggling village, fulfilling painfully the idea of a city of dreary 
distances. The avenues were poorly paved, and the streets al- 
most impassible and miserably lighted at night. The leading 
hotel was Gadsby's — a vast barn or caravanserai; the chief 
amusements gambling-houses and a poor theatre; and no pub- 
lic halls with the exception of Carusi's. The only creditable 
buildings were the Capitol, the President's House, and the De- 
partments. When I was here first the snow lay deep upon the 
ground, the cold was intense; sleighs were the ordinary con- 
veyances, and Senators and members were generally huddled 
into ordinary boarding-houses, in which a sort of gipsy life was 
led, only tolerable to those who had fortunes of their own. It 
was a cheerless city, simply endurable by political and public 
receptions. Society was pleasant enough for those who had 
time to stay, but a casual visitor like myself had to be content 



232 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

with a seat in the gallery of Congress, a presentation to the 
President among a mob, or a loiter in the East Room. Twenty 
years made comparatively little change in the character of the 
city. Old men died and new men rose. One set of giants 
was succeeded by another. Modern improvements came in 
slowly, for slavery was spread like a shroud over the whole dis- 
trict. Population grew apace, but enterprise was stagnant. The 
newspapers were didactic and dull. Gales & Seaton still qui- 
etly vegetated in their genteel Intelligencer, its prestige gone, 
and they struggled vainly against the huge and ponderous is- 
sues then projecting their dark proportions upon the scene. 
James Buchanan was President, trying with feeble force to quell 
the storm he aided to raise, while Stephen A. Douglas, Charles 
Sumner, John J. Crittenden, Benjamin F. Wade, Salmon P. 
Chase, Wm. H. Seward, John C. Breckinridge, Robert Toombs, 
John Slidell, and Andrew Johnson were leading different divi- 
sions of men — each contending for his own theories, and all 
irresistibly floating into that great conflict which abolished slav- 
ery, purified the Constitution, redeemed the whole government, 
and, for the first time since the Declaration of Independence, es- 
tablished and fortified a consolidated nation. Then the strong, 
warm blood began to circulate in the District of Columbia. 
Still the progress was slow. The debris of the battle had to be 
removed. The local municipality had to be changed. Free 
labor had to be organized and rewarded. The experiment of 
the ballot had to be tried. New men, when they came in to 
push old incapables from their stools, had to be accustomed to 
the demands and the progress of the times. Summoned to the 
helm of a Washington Republican daily in 1862, 1 gladly echoed 
the popular cry for improvement. Still years passed before 
there was any substantial response. It was only when General 
Grant succeeded Andrew Johnson that men were found to un- 
dertake responsibilities and bear misrepresentations, and place 
Washington City on the high plane of vigorous competition 



WASHINGTON IN 1871. 233 

with its sisters. A few days since, after an absence of several 
months, I returned, to realize the vast difference between the 
Washington of 1839 and the Washington of 187 1. During these 
few months a magical transformation has been wrought. The 
desolation, decay, and retrogression of thirty-two years have 
been succeeded by a diversified and miraculous development. 
The inertness of the past is put to shame by the activity of the 
present. Youth has superseded age, enterprise enervation. 
Ten years ago its churches were hospitals, its parks camping- 
grounds, many of its public places barracks or prisons. Its 
avenues and streets trembled under the march of embattled 
thousands, and were torn and lacerated by long trains of artil- 
lery and huge processions of army wagons. Nothing main- 
tained its character but the marble Capitol, and that, as if to 
prefigure the new era, extended its wings in all the wonders of 
its classic beauty amid the shock of conflict and of death. And 
now, on the eve of that anniversary of the birth of Him whose 

" Blessed feet 
Which nineteen hundred years ago 
Were nailed for our advantage on the bitter cross," 

the visitor, whether American or foreigner, stands in the midst 
of something more than a material metamorphosis. It was said 
of one of the Roman emperors that he found Rome brick and 
left it marble. Not less true is the eulogy that the Republicans 
found Washington in chains and made it free. They found it 
a miserable mockery and converted it into a magnificent me- 
tropolis. My companions, most of whom had not seen Wash- 
ington for years, and easily recalled its former wretchedness, 
stood in amazement in the midst of the trophies of its present 
splendor. After riding along Pennsylvania Avenue and observ- 
ing the new residences going up in every quarter, and the broad 
streets laid with enduring composite, we stopped on the noble 
walk before the north front of the Treasury Department and 
stood opposite the Freedmen's Savings Bank. Its history will 



2 34 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

form a striking chapter in the annals of these times. On the 
east corner of the same block I pointed out the famous bank- 
ing-house of Corcoran & Riggs — now managed, I believe, by 
Mr. George W. Riggs. The contrast between these two edifices 
is a contrast between two ideas, and suggests a moral better 
than an argument. Let us take two living men — men whose 
names are immediately associated with these institutions — W. 
W. Corcoran, the former head of the little old banking-house at 
the corner, and William J. Wilson, cashier of the new savings 
bank — the one white and the other colored, both natives of the 
United States, and both sympathizers with the South in the re- 
belHon— Corcoran with the Confederates and Wilson with the 
slaves. It can be no offense to the white man to say that, like 
his colored brother, he was of humble origin, and it is equally 
true that while he flourished under our institutions, William J. 
Wilson was oppressed and degraded. The white man grew in 
riches and in graces with his years. Under former Adminis- 
trations, before the Sub-Treasury, he was the principal deposi- 
tary of the national funds, and to this day his name is a letter 
of credit in all financial circles. Belonging to the age that is 
fast passing away, he does not forget that most of his wealth 
is the result of the confidence of his Government ; and in the 
rapid growth of Washington, although he himself has resisted 
many of the recent efforts in that direction, there are no more 
beautiful objects than his noble Art Gallery and the Louisa 
Home for Indigent Ladies, The black man had none of these 
chances. When Congress, early in 1865, passed a charter of 
incorporation for the Freedmen's Savings Bank, William J. Wil- 
son, the present indomitable cashier, was teaching school on 
Twelfth Street, near R, in Washington City, without remunera- 
tion. The trustees called upon him to make the bank known 
to the colored people of America, and he undertook the work. 
His first office was a rented room in a small brick house in G 
Street, where he remained for a few months stemming the tide 



freedmen's savings bank. 235 

of bigotry against his race, and untiring in teaching them the 
necessity of hoarding their surplus wages in some institution 
that would keep them safely and profitably. A freedman, in 
1866, told Wilson that his father's box had been broken into 
and two hundred dollars stolen, but that the old man had still 
twenty-four dollars left, and this was the first investment, under 
Wilson's advice, in the Freedmen's Savings Bank. It was the 
seed from which has grown what is already a gigantic and must 
become an overwhelming corporation. Other deposits followed 
in rapid succession, and real estate was purchased at the cor- 
ner of Nineteenth and I Streets in Washington. The opera- 
tions of the concern became too large in a short time, and it 
was finally moved to the northwest corner of Pennsylvania Av- 
enue and Nineteenth Street. During this period colored sol- 
diers began to deposit something of their pay, and those who 
were wise enough to do so now reap the benefit of their wisdom. 
In the winter of 1867 the bank was moved to Seventh Street, 
between E and F, where it remained for fourteen months, until 
finally it was located in the new building opposite the Treasury 
Department, to which I have referred. There are few banking- 
houses in America equal to it, and yet, large, commodious, and 
beautiful as it is, it is to be still further extended, inasmuch as 
the company has purchased the whole of the western portion 
of the lot, and are even now ambitious to buy out Corcoran & 
Riggs, so that the entire square may be given up to them. It 
may be called a tree of many branches, extending through the 
South and the Southwest. They have fine buildings, with ca- 
pable officers engaged in the good work of collecting the sav- 
ings of the freedmen, and so hoarding and investing them as 
that in the course of time the institution will be second to none 
on the continent. The Washington depositors are from one 
hundred and fifty to two hundred a day, and the daily amount 
of business varies from six to twenty thousand dollars. In four 
weeks these deposits have exceeded the drafts by sixty thousand 



236 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

dollars. No discounts are made for the public or for any of 
the officers of the bank, and advances are made only on secu- 
rity of real estate. It is unnecessary to give further details. 
The concern itself stands first among financial institutions. Its 
future may be judged from its present. With ordinary care 
and integrity it must distance all competitors, inasmuch as it 
has secured the confidence of the great race which, united for 
one object, can accomplish almost any thing. Imagine these 
millions of colored men, women, and children, all resolved upon 
hoarding their earnings in one banking institution, and then 
contrast this unity of action with the savings banks in other 
cities and States which have grown rich because they have been 
preferred by only a portion of the whites, and you have the sto- 
ry in a nutshell. The architect of all this prosperity is William 
J. Wilson, the cashier, an earnest, hard-headed, true-hearted 
man, with the intelligence, vigor, and the directness of a John 
W. Garrett or a George Law, and the conviction of an Oliver 
Cromwell. As a Pennsylvanian I am proud to record the fact 
that perhaps the most efficient and persevering of the coadju- 
tors of Mr. Wilson in the administration of the affairs of this 
magnificent institution is Colonel D. L. Eaton, of Pittsburgh. 
But Wilson is the W. W. Corcoran of the colored men of the 
South, successfully emerging from a deadlier struggle, fighting 
against sterner obstacles, and perhaps surer of a grander future. 
Who knows but that in the years that lie beyond, a reputation 
as pure, a credit as high, may await the posterity of the colored 
banker as that which has a thousand times rewarded the white 
capitalist ? I said at the beginning that Christmas is that holi- 
day on which childhood looks joyously forward, and when man- 
hood solemnly looks backward ; and, as I conclude this strik- 
ing contrast, may not both child and man be instructed by its 
lessons, and alike anticipate the glorious destiny of our coun- 
try? 

[December 24, 1871.] 



NEW-YEARS CALLS. 237 



LI. 



New-year's calls had their origin in Continental Europe. 
The custom was brought to New York by the Dutch and Hu- 
guenots as one of their peculiar institutions. It has never been 
naturalized, until recently, in towns of a more purely English 
origin or population. Christmas is the favorite holiday all 
through the Middle States, especially in districts originally set- 
tled by the English and the Germans. New-year's receptions 
have latterly become universally fashionable, but the cities of 
New York and Washington are more particularly abandoned 
to this growing and pleasant custom. On Friday, the first of 
January, 1790, the Government of the young United States, then 
located in the city of New York, the first President, George 
Washington, was waited upon by the principal gentlemen of the 
metropolis. Mrs. Washington held her levee as on other Fri- 
day evenings, but this special reception was one of unusual ele- 
gance. The weather was almost as gentle as May, and the full 
moon shone brightly into the chambers of the President's state- 
ly mansion. It was not the general custom for visitors to the 
President to sit, but on this particular evening, as I learn from 
a diary of the period, there were chairs in the rooms where Mrs. 
Washington met her friends, and, after they were seated, tea and 
coffee and plum and plain cake were served. Mrs. Washing- 
ton afterward remarked that none of the proceedings of the 
day so pleased " the General " (by which title she always desig- 
nated her husband, differing in that respect from Mrs. Grant, 
who nearly always speaks of our present President as "Mr. 
Grant") as the friendly greeting of the gentlemen who had call- 
ed upon him. Washington asked if New-year's visiting had al- 
ways been kept up in New York, and when he was answered in 
the affirmative, he paused a moment and said, " The highly fa- 
vored situation of New York will in the progress of years at- 



238 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

tract numerous emigrants, who will gradually change its cus- 
toms and manners ; but, whatever changes take place, never 
forget the cordial and cheerful observance of New-year's-day." 
Mrs. Washington stood by his side as the visitors arrived and 
were presented, and when the clock in the hall struck 7ii7ie she 
advanced and said, with a pleasant smile, " The General alwa3^s 
retires at nine, and I usually jDrecede him," upon which the 
company made their parting salutations, and said good-night. 
This was the second session of the First Ame'rican Congress, 
and the last ever held in New York. It was closed on the 12th 
of August, 1790, and on the 30th the President set out for Vir- 
ginia. 

The population of Boston at this time was about eighteen 
thousand, that of New York thirty-three thousand, of whom 
twenty-three hundred were slaves, and that of Philadelphia forty- 
two thousand, of whom less than three hundred were slaves. 
One of the great questions of the day was in which of the cities 
or sections the capital of the nation should be fixed. It is 
amusing to note the efforts made to retain it in New York 
and to prevent its transfer to Philadelphia, and to compare 
them with the late endeavor of the gentle Mr. Reavis, of St. 
Louis, and his very few associates, against keeping the seat of 
the National Government where it is to-day. The first Con- 
gress had just closed at New York, and Washington prepared, 
in accordance with the decision of that body, to fix his new res- 
idence at Philadelphia, where the Executive, Legislative, and 
Judicial Departments were to be retained until the close of the 
century. It was known that Washington and the Southern 
men generally were anxious that the political centre of the Re- 
public should be on the River Potomac, while Pennsylvania 
wished it on the banks of the Delaware, and New York vainly 
tried to keep it on the Hudson. Dr. Rush, in a letter to Gen- 
eral Muhlenberg, said, "I rejoice in the prospect of Congress 
leaving New York. It is a sink of political vice. Do as you 



THE SEAT OF GOVERNMENT. 239 

please, but tear Congress away from New York in any way. 
Do not rise without effecting tliis business." But the New- 
Yorkers did not hesitate to retort upon Philadelphia. Captain 
Freneau, afterward Mr. Jefferson's great editorial advocate, and 
the assailant of General Washington in the Philadelphia Na- 
tional Gazette, wrote some verses, in which he made a Philadel- 
phia house-maid, in a letter to her friend in New York, speak 
of Philadelphia as follows : 

" Six weeks my dear mistress has been in a fret, 
And nothing but Congress will do for her yet. 
She says they must come, or her senses she'll lose ; 
From morning to night she is reading the news, 
And loves the dear fellows that vote for our town, 
Since no one can relish New York but a clown. 

" She tells us as how she has read in her books 
That God gives the meat but the devil the cooks ; 
And Grumbleton told us, who often shoots flying, 
That fish you have plenty, but spoil them in frying ; 
That your streets are as crooked as crooked can be, 
Right forward three perches he never could see ; 
That his view was cut short with a house or a shop 
That stood in his way and obliged him to stop." 

To which the New York maid responds to her friend : 

•* Well, Nannie, I'm sorry to find, since you writ us, 
That Congress at last has determined to quit us ; 
You now may begin with your dish-cloths and brooms. 
To be scouring your, knockers and scrubbing your rooms, 

" As for us, my dear Nannie, we're much in a pet. 
And hundreds of houses will be " To be Let ;" 
Our streets, that were just in a way to look clever, 
"Will now be neglected and nasty as ever. 
This Congress unsettled's a very sad thing, 
Seven years, my dear Nannie, they've been on the wing; 
My master would rather saw timber or dig, 
Than to have it removed to Conogocheague, 
Where the houses and kitchens are yet to framed, 
The trees to be felled, and the streets to be named." 



240 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Then came the hurry and excitement of moving the different 
Departments of the Government, complaints on the part of 
members of Congress of high prices of rents and provisions, 
and all the numerous intrigues incidental to such a transition. 
The appearance of Philadelphia was monotonous enough, though 
Christ Church had quite a cathedral air, and the Dutch church 
was magnificent. But the city, plain and unpretending, was 
chiefly attractive to visitors by its markets, which were declared 
to be the best in the world. The Pennsylvania politicians, in- 
cluding such men as Robert Morris, felt that if they could make 
Congress, the President, and the Departments comfortable in 
Philadelphia, the project of removing to the South would be 
abandoned, and therefore some amusing expedients were re- 
sorted to, especially to propitiate the President, but without 
effect. He was exceedingly careful about committing himself, 
would receive no favors of any kind, and scrupulously paid for 
every thing. The house of Mr. Robert Morris had been taken 
by the corporation for his residence. " It is," said Washington 
to his private secretary, Mr. Lear, " the best they could get, and 
is, I believe, the best single house in the city." A larger house 
was set apart for him on Ninth Street, on the grounds nov/ cov- 
ered by the Pennsylvania University, which he refused to accept. 

The house he occupied while he was President was a large 
double house, on the south side of High Street, near Fifth, was 
three stories, thirty-two feet wide, four windows in the second 
as well as in the third story, and three in the first, approached 
by three heavy steps of gray stone to a single door. It was 
situated in a vacant lot, used as a garden, and surrounded with 
trees and shrubbery. 

On Saturday, the 28th of November, 1790, the President and 
Mrs. Washington arrived from Mount Vernon, and took posses- 
sion of this their new mansion, and on Christmas-day, the 25 th 
of December, they gave their first formal levee. The President 
was surrounded by members of his Cabinet or other distinguished 



WASHINGTON IN PHILADELPHIA. 241 

men, his hair powdered and gathered behind in a silk bag, coat 
and breeches of plain black silk velvet, white or pearl-colored 
vest, yellow gloves, a cocked hat in his hand, silver knee and 
shoe buckles, and a long sword, with a finely wrought and glit- 
tering steel hilt, the coat worn over it and its scabbard of pol- 
ished white leather. On these occasions he never shook hands 
even with his most intimate friends. Every name was distinctly 
announced, and he rarely forget it after the owner had been 
introduced. At Mrs. Washington's receptions the President 
appeared as a private gentleman, without hat or sword, con- 
versing without restraint, generally with the ladies, who had few 
other opportunities of meeting him. 

The winter of 1790-91, including the New-year's receptions 
and levees, was unusually brilliant in Philadelphia. " I should 
spend a veiy dissipated winter," writes Mrs. John Adams, ".if 
I were to accept one half the invitations I receive." Another 
correspondent wrote as follows : "I never saw any thing like the 
frenzy wliich has seized upon the inhabitants here. They have 
been half mad ever since this city became the seat of Govern- 
ment, and there is no limit to their prodigality, and, Ellsworth 
might say, profligacy. The probability is that some families 
will find they can not support their dinners, suppers, and losses 
at loo a great while ; but generally, I believe, the sharp citi- 
zens manage to make the temporary residents pay the bills, 
one way or another. They have given a good many delightful 
parties, and I have been at Chew's, McKean's, Clymer's, Dal- 
las's, Bingham's, and a dozen other houses lately. Among your 
more particular friends there is more quiet and comfort, and it 
is not impossible that tlie most truly respectable people are 
least heard of." 

Few will think of the New-year of 1790-91 as they greet 
to-morrow ; and yet, though eighty years have gone, it is not 
difficult, after a little reading and reflection, to recall it. "The 
belle of the period " was Anne Willing, afterward Mrs. William 

L 



242 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Bingham. She was the princess of society before whom Jeffer- 
son, Hamilton, Jay, and John Adams gladly bowed. Of rare 
personal attractions, fine intelligence, and unlimited resources, 
supplied by husband and father, she dazzled society in both 
continents. Dying at thirty-seven, she has left a deathless rep- 
utation for loveliness of person and of mind. A chief favorite 
of Washington, who saw her alike at her town and country home 
— the latter the famous Lansdowne on the Schuylkill, the glory 
of the great Fairmount Park — she was the star of Mrs. Wash- 
ington's levees. It is not difficult to picture her now, the queen 
of the ladies of her own age and sphere, and the admired of the 
great leaders of the time. There will be lovely women and 
eminent men to-morrow at the White House in Washington, 
and in the many great houses of New York, Philadelphia, Bos- 
ton, Cincinnati, New Orleans, Charleston, Baltimore, and Rich- 
mond j but will the women be more attractive than those who 
attended the first levee of President Washington in Philadel- 
phia in 1790-91? There were Mrs. Vice-President John Ad^ 
ams, the dazzling Mrs. Bingham and her beautiful sisters, the 
Misses Allen, the Misses Chew, and a constellation of others. 
The eldest of the Aliens became the lovely Mrs. Greenleaf. 
Mrs. Theodore Sedgwick, and Miss Wolcott, of New England, 
added singular grace to the scene. Miss Sally McKean, after- 
ward the Marchioness d'Yrujo (wife of the Spanish Minister), 
whose portrait, by Gilbert Stuart, is still in possession of Pratt 
McKean, in Philadelphia, wrote to a friend in New York : 
" You never could have had such a drawing-room ; it was brill- 
iant beyond any thing you can imagine, and though there was 
a great deal of extravagance, there was so much of Philadelphia 
taste in every thing that it must be confessed the most delightful 
occasion ever known in this country." In fact, all the great 
women of this country, North and South, and of the foreign 
legations, figured in the decade between 1790 and 1800 in these 
historical assemblies. 



WASHINGTON S RECEPTIONS. 243 

At these Washington receptions and levees also might be 
found the public men of the Revolutionary era — the leaders in 
the Senate and in society, beginning with Washington's Cabi- 
net, which included Jefferson, Hamilton, Knox, Timothy Pick- 
ering, John Marshall, Oliver Wolcott, and Edmund Randolph ; 
and his immediate personal friends, at the head of whom stood 
John Jay, Governor Clinton, and Robert Morris. There, too, 
might have been seen Colonel Trumbull, the eminent historical 
painter. The Philadelphia celebrities living at that time were 
Dominie Proud, the historian of Pennsylvania, tall, thin^ with a 
nose like a hook, and overhanging brows, a striking figure, with 
his ivory-headed cane, as he walked about among the new gen- 
eration ; Benjamin Chew, at seventy years preserving the dis- 
tinguished air and high-bred courtesy which forty years before 
had arrested the admiration of Washington ; Edward Shippen, 
in his sixty-second year — ^just called to a position on the bench 
— the ancestor of his esteemed and universally beloved name- 
sake now living in Philadelphia, and exercising a salutary and 
generous influence ; Dr. Rush, though not in the Washington 
circle, still a great favorite with the people ; the facetious Judge 
Peters, in his fiftieth year, with his good nature and unfailing 
wit ; the genial and humorous Francis Hopkinson, author of 
"The Battle of the Kegs ;" the sage Rittenhouse, in his sixtieth 
year ; William Bartram, at his famous botanic garden ; John 
Fitch, the inventor of the steam-boat ; the eminent Bishop 
White ; Charles Brockden Brown, not yet twenty-one years old, 
with Hugh H. Breckinridge, Peter S. Duponceau, Dr. Caspar 
Wistar, and many more unforgotten in our annals, though long 
since gathered to their fathers. 

[December 31, 1871.] 



244 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



LII. 



Who will ever forget Friday, the 22d of February, 1861, when 
Abraham Lincoln rode down Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, 
from the Continental Hotel, for the purpose of raising the Amer- 
ican flag in front of Independence Hall? The spot, newly 
sanctified by that patriotic deed, has recently been additionally 
hallowed by an exquisite marble life-size statue of Washington, 
executed by that fine artist, Bailly, and paid for by the contri- 
butions of the public-school children of the First School Dis- 
trict of Pennsylvania. 

All his speeches on his way to AVashington seemed to be 
pervaded by consciousness of his danger and determination to 
do his duty. He was greeted by affectionate crowds at every 
station, but as he approached Philadelphia he became more se- 
rious and resolved. In his reply to Mayor Henry, of that city, 
on the 2ist of February, he said: "You have expressed the 
wish, in which I join, that it were convenient for me to remain 
long enough to consult, or rather to listen to, those breathings 
arising within the consecrated walls in which the Constitution 
of the United States, and, I will add, the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, were originally framed and adopted. All my polit- 
ical warfare has been in favor of those teachings. May my 
right hand forget its auming and my tongue cleave to the roof of 
my mouth if ever I prove false to those teachings.'''' 

The next day he was escorted to Independence Hall. It 
was an early winter morning, and as the President had to visit 
the Legislature at Harrisburg in the afternoon, in a special 
train that was to leave at 8:30, what was to be done had to be 
done quickly. In front of the ancient Temple of Liberty a plat- 
form was erected, from which Mr. Lincoln was to raise the na- 
tional flag with its thirty-four stars. As he approached the 
sacred spot, in a carriage drawn by four white horses, escorted 



LINCOLN IN PHILADELPHIA. *245 

by the Scott Legion, with the flag they had carried to victory 
in Mexico twelve years before, the whole scene was highly dra- 
matic. The whole population was in the streets,- and their ex- 
citement and enthusiasm baffled description. It recalled Shakes- 
peare's picture of Bolingbroke's entrance into London : 

" You would have thought the very windows spake, 
So many greedy looks of young and old 
Through casements darted their desiring eyes 
Upon his visage; and that all the walls, 
With painted imagery, had said at once : 
* Jesu preserve thee ! Welcome, Bolingbroke !' 
Whilst he, from one side to the other turning, 
Bareheaded, lower than his proud steed's neck, 
Bespake them thus : * I thank you, countrymen ;' 
And this still doing, thus he passed along." 

Leaving the carriage at the door, he entered, uncovered, the 
sacred Hall of Independence. And there it was that he used 
the language that now sounds like a solemn prophecy : 

"That Declaration of Independence gave liberty, not alone 
to the people of this country, but hope for the world for all fut- 
ure time. It was that which gave promise that in our time the 
weights should be lifted from the shoulders of all men, and that 
all should have an equal chafice. This is the sentiment embodied 
in the Declaration of Independence. Now, my friends, can this 
country be saved upon that basis ? If it can, I will consider 
myself one of the happiest men in the world if I can save it. 
If it can not be saved upon that principle, it will be truly awful. 
But if this country can not be saved without giving up that prin- 
ciple — / was about to say I would rather be assassinated on this 
spot than surrender it.''' And then, after a few more words, he 
added solemnly, as he drew his tall form to its fullest height, 
"/ have said nothing but what I am willing to live by, and, in the 
pleasure of Almighty God, to die by." 

He had just been freshly warned of his peril, and when he 
walked forth to face the mighty concourse outside, and mounted 



246 .- ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the platform, " his tall form rose Saul-like above the mass." 
He stood elevated and alone before the people, and, with his 
overcoat off, grasped the halyards to draw up the flag. Then 
arose a shout like the roar of many waters. Mr. Lincoln's ex- 
pression was serene and confident. Extending his long arms, 
he slowly drew up the standard, which had never before kissed 
the light of heaven till it floated over the Hall of Independence. 
Tears, prayers, shouts, music, and cannon followed, and sealed 
an act which few knew was only the beginning of unspeakable 
sufferings and sacrifices, ending in his own martyrdom. That 
same afternoon, at Harrisburg, he spoke of his part in the morn- 
ing's drama as follows : 

" This morning I was for the first time allowed the privilege 
of standing in Old Independence Hall. Our friends had pro- 
vided a magnificent flag of our country, and they had arranged 
it so that I was given the honor of raising it to the head of its 
staff, and when it went up I was pleased that it went to its place 
by the strength of my own feeble arm. When, according to the 
arrangement, the cord was pulled, and it flaunted gloriously to 
the wind, without an accident, in the bright glowing sunshine 
of the morning, I could not help hoping that there was, in the 
entire success of that beautiful ceremony, at least something of 
an omen of what is to come. Nor could I help feeling then, as 
I have often felt, that in the whole of that proceeding I was a 
very humble instrument. I had not provided the flag. I had 
not made the arrangement for elevating it to its place. I had 
applied a very small portion even of my feeble strength in rais- 
ing it. In the whole transaction I was in the hands of the peo- 
ple who had arranged it. And if I can have the same gener- 
ous co-operation of the people of this nation, I think the flag of 
our country may yet be kept flaunting gloriously." 

After the reception of Mr. Lincoln by the State authorities at 
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, preparations were immediately made 
for his return to Philadelphia. It was impossible to conceal 



SAMUEL M. FELTON's NARRATIVE. 247 

the events of his journey to the capital. Fully advised of these 
events, the rebels prepared to take his life in Baltimore. Ac- 
curate information of their intentions had been received and 
conveyed to him. Supposing that he would proceed by the 
Northern Central road, they lay in wait for him at the Calvert 
Street depot of that road in Baltimore. To baffle them he 
took the Pennsylvania Central from Harrisburg, and reached 
Philadelphia just in time to enter the sleeping-car of the 11:30 
train, at the Broad and Prime de'pot, in that city, by which 
means he was conveyed through Baltimore at night, and safely 
landed in Washington on the morning of the 23d of February, 
186 1. To prevent the knowledge of this change of programme 
from being telegraphed to Baltimore, Henry Sanford, Esq., one 
of the officers of Adams's Express, suggested that the wires 
should be cut some distance from Harrisburg, which was ac- 
cordingly done. And now for a statement not generally known, 
and for the first time published in the very interesting book en- 
titled " Massachusetts during the War," prepared by General 
William Schouler, adjutant-general under Governors Banks and 
Andrew (a monument of industry and patriotism), which, not- 
withstanding its length, will be read with deep interest. This 
true history of Mr. Lincoln's perilous journey to Washington, in 
1 86 1, and the way he escaped death, have never been printed 
before. The narrative was written by Samuel M. Felton, late 
president of the Philadelphia and Baltimore Railroad Com- 
pany, in 1862, at the request of Mr. Sibley, librarian of Harvard 
University, but it was not completed until lately, when it was 
sent to General Schouler, with other valuable material, by Mr. 
Felton. Mr. Felton is a native of Massachusetts, and a brother 
of the late president of Harvard University. He was born in 
West Newbury, Essex County, Massachusetts, July 17, 1809, ^^d 
graduated at Harvard in the class of 1834. His services in the 
cause of the Union and good government are therefore a part of 
the renown of that Commonwealth. His narrative is as follows : 



248 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

" It came to my knowledge in the early part of 1861, first by 
rumors and then by evidence which I could not doubt, that 
there was a deep-laid conspiracy to capture Washington, de- 
stroy all the avenues leading to it from the North, East, and 
West, and thus prevent the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln in the 
Capitol of the country; and if this plot did not succeed, then to 
murder him while on his way to the capital, and thus inaugurate 
a revolution which should end in establishing a Southern Con- 
federacy, uniting all the slave States, while it was imagined that 
the North would be divided into separate cliques, each striving 
for the destruction of the other. Early in the year 1861, Miss 
Dix, the philanthropist, came into my office on a Saturday after- 
noon. I had known her for some years as one engaged in allevi- 
ating the sufferings of the afflicted. Her occupation had brought 
her in contact with the prominent men South. In visiting hos- 
pitals she had become familiar with the structure of Southern 
society, and also with the working of its political machinery. 
She stated that she had an important communication to make 
to me personally ; and, after closing my door, I listened atten- 
tively to what she had to say for more than an hour. She put 
in a tangible and reliable shape, by the facts she related, what 
before I had heard in numerous and detached parcels. The 
sum of it all was that there was then an extensive and organ- 
ized conspiracy throughout the South to seize upon Washing- 
ton, with its archives and records, and then declare the South- 
ern conspirators de facto the Government of the United States. 
The whole was to be a coup d'etat. At the same time they were 
to cut off all modes of communication between Washington and 
the North, East, or West, and thus prevent the transportation 
of troops to wrest the capital from the hands of the insurgents. 
Mr. Lincoln's inauguration was thus to be prevented, or his life 
was to fall a sacrifice to the attempt at inauguration. In fact, 
troops were then drilling on the line of our road, and the Wash- 
ington and Annapolis line, and other lines; and they were 



SAMUEL M. FELTON S NARRATIVE. 249 

sworn to obey the command of their leaders, and the leaders 
were banded together to capture Washington. As soon as the 
interview was ended, I called Mr. N. P.Trist into my office, and 
told him I wanted him to go to Washington that night and com- 
municate these facts to General Scott. I also furnished him 
with some data as to the other routes to Washington that might 
be adopted in case the direct route was cut off. One was the 
Delaware Railroad to Seaford, and thence up the Chesapeake 
and Potomac to Washington, or to Annapolis, and thence to 
Washington; another to Perryville, and thence to Annapolis 
and Washington. Mr.Trist left that night, and arrived in Wash- 
ington at six the next morning, which was on Sunday. He im- 
mediately had an interview with General Scott, who told him he 
had foreseen the trouble that was coming, and in October pre- 
vious had made a communication to the President, predicting 
trouble at the South, and urging strongly the garrisoning of all 
the Southern forts and arsenals with forces sufficient to hold 
them, but that his advice had been unheeded; nothing had been 
done, and he feared nothing would be done ; that he was pow- 
erless, and that he feared Mr. Lincoln would be obliged to be 
inaugurated into office at Philadelphia. He should, however, 
do all he could to bring troops to Washington sufficient to make 
it secure ; but he had no influence with the Administration, and 
feared the worst consequences. Thus matters stood on Mr. 
■ Trist's visit to Washington, and thus they stood for some time 
afterward. About this time — a few days subsequent, however. 
— a gentleman from Baltimore came out to Back River bridge, 
about five miles this side of the city, and told the bridge-keeper 
that he had come to give information which had come to his 
knowledge of vital importance to the road, which he wished 
communicated to me. The nature of this communication was 
that a party was then organized in Baltimore to burn our bridges 
in case Mr. Lincoln came over the road, or in case we attempt- 
ed to carry troops for the defense of Washington. The party 

L 2 



250 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

at that time had combustible materials prepared to pour over 
the bridges, and were to disguise themselves as negroes, and be 
at the bridge just before the train in which Mr. Lincoln traveled 
had arrived. The bridge was then to be burned, the train at- 
tacked, and Mr. Lincoln to be put out of the way. This man 
appeared to be a gentleman, and in earnest, and honest in what 
he said ; but he would not give his name, nor allow any inqui- 
ries to be made as to his name or exact abode, as he said his 
life would be in peril were it known that he had given this in- 
formation ; but, if we would not attempt to find him out, he 
would continue to come and give information. He came sub- 
sequently several times, and gave items of information as to the 
movements of the conspirators; but I have never been able to 
ascertain who he was. Immediately after the development of 
these facts I went to Washington, and there met a prominent 
and reliable gentleman from Baltimore, who was well acquainted 
with Marshal Kane, then the Chief of Police. I was then anx- 
ious to ascertain whether he was loyal and reliable, and made 
particular inquiries upon both these points. I was assured that 
Kane was perfectly reliable; whereupon I made known some 
of the facts that had come to my knowledge in reference to the 
designs for the burning of the bridges, and requested that they 
should be laid before Marshal Kane, with a request that he 
should detail a police force to make the necessary investiga- 
tion. Marshal Kane was seen, and it was suggested to him 
.that there were reports of a conspiracy to burn the bridges and 
cut off Washington, and his advice was asked as to the best 
way of ferreting out the conspirators. He scouted the idea 
that there was any such thing on foot; said he had thoroughly 
investigated the whole matter, and there was not the slightest 
foundation for such rumors. I then determined to have nothing 
more to do with Marshal Kane, but to investigate the matter in 
my own way, and at once sent for a celebrated detective, who 
resided in the West, and whom I had before employed on an 



SAMUEL M. FELTON'S NARRATIVE. 25 1 

important matter. He was a man of great skill and resources. 
I furnished him with a few hints, and at once set him on the 
track with eight assistants. There were then drilling upon the 
line of the railroad some three military organizations, profess- 
edly for home defense, pretending to be Union men, and, in one 
or two instances, tendering their services to the railroad in case 
of trouble. Their propositions were duly considered; but the 
defense of the road was never intrusted to their tender mercies. 
The first thing done was to enlist a volunteer in each of these 
military companies. They pretended to come from New Or- 
leans and Mobile, and did not appear to be wanting in sympa- 
thy for the South. They were furnished with uniforms at the 
expense of the road, and drilled as often as their associates in 
arms; became initiated into all the secrets of the organization, 
and reported every day or two to their chief, who immediately 
reported to me the designs and plans of these military com- 
panies. One of these organizations was loyal, but the other 
two were disloyal, and fully in the plot to destroy the bridges 
and march to Washington to wrest it from the hands of the le- 
gally constituted authorities. Every nook and corner of the 
road and its vicinity was explored by the chief and his detect- 
ives, and the secret working of secession and treason laid bare 
and brought to light. 

" Societies were joined in Baltimore, and various modes 
known to and practiced only by detectives were resorted to to 
win the confidence of the conspirators and get into their se-: 
crets. This plan worked well, and the midnight plottings and 
daily consultations of the conspirators were treasured up as a 
guide to our future plans for thwarting them. It turned out 
that all that had been communicated by Miss Dix and the gen- 
tleman from Baltimore rested upon a foundation of fact, and 
that the half had not been told. It was made as certain as 
strong circumstantial and positive evidence could make it, that 
there was a plot to burn the bridges and destroy the road, and 



252 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

murder Mr. Lincoln on his way to Washington, if it turned out 
that he went there before troops were called. If troops were 
first called, then the bridges were to be destroyed and Wash- 
ington cut off and taken possession of by the South. I at once 
organized and armed a force of about two hundred men, whom 
I distributed along the line between the Susquehanna and Bal- 
timore, principally at the bridges. 

"These men were drilled secretly and regularly by drill-mas- 
ters, and were apparently employed in whitewashing the bridges, 
putting on some six or seven coats of whitewash saturated 
with salt and alum, to make the outside of the bridges as nearly 
fire-proof as possible. This whitewashing, so extensive in its 
application, became the nine-days' wonder of the neighborhood. 
Thus the bridges were strongly guarded, and a train was ar- 
ranged so as to concentrate all the forces at one point in case 
of trouble. The programme of Mr. Lincoln was changed, and it 
was decided by him that he would go to Harrisburg from Phil- 
adelphia, and thence over the Northern Central road by day to 
Baltimore, and thence to Washington. We were then informed 
by our detective that the attention of the conspirators was turn- 
ed from our road to the Northern Central, and that they would 
there await the coming of Mr, Lincoln. This statement was 
confirmed by our Baltimore gentkman, who came out again and 
said their designs upon our road were postponed for the pres- 
ent, and, unless we carried troops, would not be renewed again. 
Mr. Lincoln was to be waylaid on the line of the Northern 
Central road, and prevented from reaching Washington, and 
his life was to fall a sacrifice to the attempt. Thus matters 
stood on his arrival in Philadelphia. I felt it my duty to com- 
municate to him the facts that had come to my knowledge, and 
urge his going to Washington privately that night in our sleep- 
ing-car, instead of publicly two days after, as was proposed. I 
went to a hotel in Philadelphia, where I met the detective, who 
was registered under an assumed name, and arranged with him 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN IN PERIL. 



253 



to bring Mr. Judd, Mr. Lincoln's intimate friend, to my room in 
season to arrange the journey to Washington that night. One 
of our sub-detectives made three efforts to communicate with 
Mr. Judd while passing through the streets in the procession, 
and was three times arrested and carried out of the crowd by 
the police. The fourth time he succeeded, and brought Mr. 
Judd to my room, where he met the detective-in-chief and my- 
self 

" We lost no time in making known to him all the facts which 
had come to our knowledge in reference to the conspiracy, and 
I most earnestly advised that Mr. Lincoln should go to Wash- 
ington that night in the sleeping-car. Mr. Judd fully entered 
into the plan, and said he would urge Mr. Lincoln to adopt it. 
On his communicating with Mr. Lincoln, after the services of 
the evening were over, he answered that he had engaged to go 
to Harrisburg and speak the next day, and he would not break 
his engagement even in the face of such peril, but that after he 
had fulfilled the engagement he would follow such advice as we 
might give him in reference to his journey to Washington. It 
was then arranged that he would go to Harrisburg the next day 
and make his address, after which he was to apparently return 
to Governor Curtin's house for the night, but in reality to go to a 
point about two miles out of Harrisburg, where an extra car 
and engine awaited to take him to Philadelphia. At the time 
of his returning, the telegraph lines, east, west, north, and south, 
were cut, so that no message as to his movements could be sent 
off in any direction. Mr. Lincoln could not possibly arrive in 
season for our regular train that left at eleven P. M., and I did 
not dare to send him by an extra for fear of its being found out 
or suspected that he was on the road ; so it became necessary 
for me to devise some excuse for the detention of the train. 
But three or four on the road besides myself knew the plan. 
One of these I sent by an earlier train, to say to the people of 
the Washington branch road that I had an important package 



254 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

I was getting ready for the eleven P.M. train ; that it was 
laecessary that I should have this package delivered in Wash- 
ington early the next morning, without fail ; that I was strain- 
ing every nerve to get it ready by eleven o'clock, but, in case I 
did not succeed, I should delay the train until it was ready, 
probably not more than half an hour, and I wished as a person- 
al favor that the Washington train should await the coming of 
ours from Philadelphia before leaving. This request was will- 
ingly complied with by the managers of the Washington branch, 
and the man whom I had sent to Baltimore so informed me by 
telegraph in cipher. The second person in the secret I sent to 
West Philadelphia with a carriage, to await the coming of Mr. 
Lincoln. I gave him a package of old railroad reports, done 
up with great care, with a great seal attached to it, and direct- 
ed, in a fair, round hand, to a person at Willard's. I marked it 
* Very important. To be delivered, without fail, by eleven o'clock 
train,' indorsing my own name upon the package. Mr. Lin- 
coln arrived in West Philadelphia, and was immediately taken 
into the carriage and driven to within a square of our sta- 
tion, where my man with the package jumped off, and waited till 
he saw the carriage drive up to the door and Mr. Lincoln and 
the detective get out and go into the station. He then came 
up and gave the package to the conductor, who was waiting at 
the door to receive it, in company w^ith a police officer. Tick- 
ets had been bought beforehand for Mr. Lincoln and party to 
Washington, including a tier of berths in the sleeping-car. He 
passed between the conductor and the police officer at the door, 
and neither suspected who he was. The conductor remarked 
as he passed, 'Well, old fellow, it was lucky for you that our 
president detained the train to send a package by it, or you 
would have been left.' Mr. Lincoln and the detective safely 
ensconced in the sleeping-car, and my package safe in the 
hands of the conductor, the train started for Baltimore nearly 
fifteen minutes behind time. Our man No. 3, George ^ 



THE ESCAPE. 255 

Started with the train to go to Baltimore, and hand it over 
with its contents to man No. i, who awaited its arrival in Balti- 
more. Before the train reached Gray's Ferry bridge, and be- 
fore Mr. Lincoln had resigned himself to slumber, the conduct- 
or came to our man George, and said, 'George, I thought 
you and I were old friends ; and why did you not tell me we 
had Old Abe on board .?' George, thinking the conductor had 
in some way become possessed of the secret, answered, 'John, 
we are friends ; and, as you have found it out. Old Abe is on 
board ; and we will still be friends, and see him safely through.' 
John answered, 'Yes, if it costs me my life he shall have a safe 
passage.' And so George stuck to one end of the car and the 
conductor to the other, every moment that his duties to the 
other passengers would admit of it. It turned out, however, 
that the conductor was mistaken in his man. A man strongly 
resembling Mr. Lincoln had come down to the train, about half 
an hour before it left, and bought a ticket to Washington for 
the sleeping-car. The conductor had seen him, and concluded 
it was the veritable Old Abe. George delivered the sleeping- 
car and train over to William in Baltimore, as had been previ- 
ously arranged, who took his place at the brake, and rode to 
Washington, where he arrived at six A.M., on time, and saw 
Mr. Lincoln in the hands of a friend, safely delivered at Wil- 
lard's, where he secretly ejaculated, 'God be praised!' He 
also saw the package of railroad reports, marked 'important,' 
safely delivered into the hands for which it was intended. This 
being done, he performed his morning ablutions in peace and 
quiet, and enjoyed with unusual zest his breakfast. At eight 
o'clock, the time agreed upon, the telegraph wires were joined ; 
and the first message flashed across the line was, 'Your pack- 
age has arrived safely, and has been delivered. Signed, Wil- 
liam.' Then there went up from the writer of this a shout of 
joy and a devout thanksgiving to Him from whom all blessings 
flow; and the few who were in the secret joined in a heartfelt 



256 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

amen. Thus began and ended a chapter in the history of the 
rebellion that has never before been written, but about which 
there have been many hints, entitled ' A Scotch Cap and Rid- 
ing-cloak,' etc., neither of which had any foundation in truth, 
as Mr. Lincoln traveled in his ordinary dress. Mr. Lincoln 
was safely inaugurated, after which I discharged our detective 
force, and also the semi-military whitewashers, and all was quiet 
and serene again on our railroad. But the distant booming from 
Fort Sumter was soon heard, and aroused in earnest the whole 
population of the loyal States. The seventy-five thousand three- 
months' men were called out, and again the plans for burning 
bridges and destroying the railroad were revived in all their 
force and intensity. Again I sent Mr. Trist to Washington to 
see General Scott, to beg for troops to garrison the road, as 
our forces were then scattered and could not be then got at. 
Mr. Trist telegraphed me that the forces would be supplied, but 
the crisis came on immediately, and all, and more than all, were 
required at Washington. At the last moment I obtained and 
sent down the road about two hundred men, armed with shot- 
guns and revolvers — all the arms I could get hold of at that 
time. They were raw and undisciplined men, and not fit to 
cope with those brought against them — about one hundred and 
fifty men, fully armed, and commanded by the redoubtable reb- 
el, J. R. Trimble." 

To confirm this careful statement of Mr. Felton, who is now 
living in honored retirement near Thurlow, Delaware County, 
Pennsylvania, I need only refer to subsequent events: To 
the attack upon the Massachusetts Sixth, to the after attempts 
of the rebels to burn the bridges across the Susquehanna, to 
the necessity of placing Baltimore under military rule, and to 
the authoritative admission of the Baltimot-e Sun of Monday, 
the 25th of February, 186 1, proving that if President Lincoln 
had taken the Northern Central, and had reached Baltimore by 
the Calvert Street depot, he would undoubtedly have been mur- 



WASHINGTON'S CARRIAGE. . 257 

dered in cold blood, and the conspiracy foreshadowed and ex- 
posed by Mr. Felton carried out and consummated. I shall 
never forget the sensations of the Union men and the conster- 
nation of the rebels when Abraham Lincoln entered Washing- 
ton on Saturday, the 23d of February. We all breathed freer 
and deeper. We felt that our leader had reached the citadel 
in safety. Few indeed anticipated what incredible effort and 
what incalculable loss of life would be necessary to maintain 
the capital, and none, perhaps, outside the few persons who 
had knowledge of the dark and dreadful plot herein revealed, 
believed that among these sacrifices would be our beloved Pres- 
ident, Abraham Lincoln. 

Qanuaiy 7, 1872.] 



LIIL 

On the 19th of March, 1791, President Washington wrote 
from Philadelphia to General Lafayette as follows : " My health 
is now quite restored, and I flatter myself with the hope of a 
long exemption from sickness. On Monday next I shall enter 
upon your friendly prescription of exercise, intending at that time 
to begin a long journey to the southw^ard." He had been invited 
by many of the leading characters of the Southern States, who 
promised him every where the cordial and enthusiastic greeting 
which two years before marked his triumphal progress through 
New England. The carriage in which he traveled was that in 
which he usually appeared on public occasions in Philadelphia. 
This carriage was built by Mr. Clarke, of that city, and was 
carefully preserved in a house built especially for its reception, 
where it remained for half a century. It is described as " a 
most satisfactory exhibition of the progress of American manu- 
factures." It was drawn by six horses, carefully selected for 



258 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

their handsome appearance and endurance. Washington started 
from his residence, in Market Street, at twelve o'clock, on Mon- 
day, the 2ist of March, 1791. Mr. Jefferson and General Knox 
escorted him into the State of Delaware, and there left him. 
Major Jackson, one of his private secretaries, accompanied him 
until he returned to Philadelphia, the capital of the nation. He 
arrived at Annapolis, Maryland, on the 25th of March, and re- 
mained two days. He stopped at Georgetown, thence pro- 
ceeded to Mount Vernon, where he remained a week, thence to 
Fredericksburg, Virginia, where he dined with his old friends 
and neighbors, recalling, with Chancellor Wythe, the scenes of 
his youth and early manhood. The party arrived at Richmond 
at eleven o'clock on Monday, the nth of April, where, as at An- 
napolis, Washington was greeted with acclamations and public 
illuminations. They visited Halifax, Newbern, Wilmington, 
and other places in North Carolina. Leaving Wilmington, 
Washington was rowed across Cape Fear River in an elegantly 
decorated barge. He arrived at Charleston, South Carolina, 
on Monday, the 2d of May. Charleston was then the gayest of 
cities. Milliners and tailors corresponded directly with invent- 
ors of dresses in London and Paris. Women preferred French 
fashions, and often improved upon them. Gentlemen were par- 
tial to blue, the product of their staple, indigo. Pantaloons had 
been introduced, and were worn by some of the younger men, 
but in a few years were entirely laid aside, and breeches re- 
sumed. Duels were frequent. " Drunkenness," says Dr. Ram- 
sey, " was the endemic vice." There were periodical races, hunt- 
ing and fishing, and luxurious dinners, followed by dancing and 
music. The Due de Rochefoucauld Liancourt observed that 
"from the hour of four in the afternoon the people of Charleston 
rarely thought of any thing but pleasure. They had two gaming- 
houses, both constantly full. The inhabitants had acquired 
great knowledge of European manners, and a stronger partiality 
for them than was found in New York. A foreign style of life 



Washington's southern tour. 259 

prevailed." This view of the inner society of Charleston is in- 
teresting as the key to a future largely controlled by the polit- 
ical opinions there nurtured and disseminated. Here the Pres- 
ident had a royal greeting, A twelve-oared barge, commanded 
by thirteen captains of American ships, conveyed him, with sev- 
eral distinguished gentlemen, from Hadrill's Point, surrounded 
by a fleet containing an instrumental band and a choir of sing- 
ers, which greeted him with triumphant airs and songs on his 
way to the city, where he was received by the Governor, the 
Society of the Cincinnati, and the military, amid ringing of bells, 
firing of cannon, and public acclamations. He remained a 
week the centre of affection and admiration. At the corpora- 
tion ball two hundred and fifty ladies wore sashes decorated 
with his likeness. A part of their head-dress was a fillet or 
bandeau, with the inscription " Long live the President," in gilt 
letters. He sat for his portrait to Colonel Trumbull, the same 
that now adorns the City Hall in Philadelphia. On Monday, 
the 9th of May, he left Charleston, accompanied by a committee 
from Savannah, and was escorted on board a richly decorated 
boat, rowed down the river by nine sea captains, dressed in 
light-blue silk jackets, black satin breeches, white silk stockings, 
and round hats with black ribbons, inscribed " Long live the 
President," in gold letters. Ten miles from Savannah they 
were met by other barges, in one of which the gentlemen sung 
the popular air, " He comes, the Hero comes !" Here new 
honors and festivities awaited him. He passed on to Augusta, 
where the populace rapturously received him; returned into 
South Carolina, visited Columbia, dined at Camden, passed 
through Charlotte, Salisbury, Salem, Guilford, and other towns 
in North Carolina, and arrived at Mount Vernon on the 12th 
of June. On the last day of that month he started for Phila- 
delphia by way of Frederick, York, and Lancaster, and arrived 
at the Presidential residence about noon on the 6th of July, 
having been absent nearly three months, during that period 



26o ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

performing a journey of one thousand eight hundred and eighty- 
seven miles. It was said of Washington that "no man in the 
army had a better eye for horses." This long tour was a severe 
test of the capacity of his steeds, and before reaching Charles- 
ton he wrote to Mr. Lear, his secretary, " that, though all things 
considered, they had got on very well, yet if brought back they 
would not cut capers as they did on setting out. My horses, 
especially the two I bought just before I left Philadelphia, and 
my old white one, are much worn down, and yet I have one 
hundred and fifty or two hundred miles of heavy sand before I 
get into the upper roads." 

While the President was in the South, Thomas Jefferson and 
James Madison were making a tour in the North. They pro- 
ceeded to New York, sailed up the Hudson to Albany, visited 
the principal scenes of the British General Burgoyne's misfor- 
tunes, at Stillwater, Saratoga, and Bennington, Fort AVilliam 
Henry, Fort Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and other memorable 
Revolutionary places. Jefferson amused himself with his gun 
and hook and line, and indulged his strong taste for natural 
history. 

I recall these facts to show that the custom of Presidential 
journeys did not originate with President Grant. The example 
of Washington was followed without censure or exception by all 
his successors, save Mr. Lincoln, who was constantly at work in 
the midst of a great war. Eighteen hundred and eighty-seven 
miles in three months was regarded as an extraordinary feat in 
1791 ; and if the most hopeful of our statesmen had then pre- 
dicted that the day would come when a successor of Washing- 
ton would preside over thirty-seven States, with a population of 
nearly forty millions of people, and travel from Washington City 
to the Pacific and back, by way of New York and Philadelphia 
— a double distance of over seven thousand miles, with plenty 
of time to see and converse with the masses, all in one month 
— he would have been denounced as a lunatic. 



WASHINGTON IN PHILADELPHIA. 261 

Washington was pleased with his Southern tour. In one of his 
letters he said : "It was accomplished without any interruption 
by sickness, bad weather, or any untoward accident. Indeed, 
so highly favored were we that we arrived at each place where 
I proposed to halt on the very day I fixed before we set out. 
I am very much pleased that I undertook this excursion, as it 
has enabled me to see with my own eyes the situation of the 
country through which we traveled, and to learn more accurately 
the disposition of the people than I could through any informa- 
tion." 

But these contrasts and comparisons do not end here. Offi- 
cial manners, customs, and costumes were different things when 
Washington lived in Philadelphia from what they are to-day. 
His habit, when the day was fine, was to take a walk, attended 
by his two secretaries, Mr. Lear and Major William Jackson, 
one on each side. He always crossed directly from his own 
door, on Market Street, near Fifth, to the sunny side, and walked 
down toward the river. He was dressed in black, and all three 
wore cocked hats. They were silent men, and seemed to con- 
verse very little. Washington had a large family coach, a light 
carriage, and a chariot, all light cream - colored, painted with 
three enameled figures on each panel, and very handsome. He 
went in the coach to Christ Church every Sunday morning, 
with two horses; used the carriage and four for his rides into 
the country, and the Lansdowne, the Hills, and other places. 
When he visited the Senate he had the chariot, with six horses. 
All his servants were white, and wore liveries of white cloth, 
trimmed with scarlet or orange. It was Mrs. Washington's cus- 
tom to return calls on the third day. The footman would knock 
loudly and announce Mrs. Washington, who would then pay the 
visit in company with Mr. Secretary Lear. Her manners were 
easy, pleasant, and unceremonious. The late lamented Rich- 
ard Rush, whom I knew well, and who occupied very many dis- 
tinguished positions, local. State, national, and diplomatic, and 



262 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

who died July 30, 1859, aged seventy-nine, recalls a scene in 
Philadelphia in 1794-95, when Washington opened Congress 
in person, and which Mr. Rush saw as a boy. His words are al- 
most mine. " The carriage of the President was drawn by four 
beautiful bay horses. It was white, with medallion ornaments 
on the panels, the liveries of the servants white turned ujd with 
red. Washington got out of the carriage, slowly crossed the 
pavement, ascended the steps of the edifice, corner of Sixth and 
Chestnut, upon the upper platform of which he paused, and, 
turning half around, looked in the direction of a carriage which 
had followed the lead of his own. Thus he stood for a minute, 
distinctly seen by every body in the vast concourse. His cos- 
tume was a full suit of black velvet ; his hair, blanched by time, 
powdered to snowy whiteness, a dress sword hanging by his 
side, his hat in his hand. Profound stillness reigned through- 
out the dense crowd ; not a word was heard ; every heart was 
full. It seemed as if he stood in that position to gratify the 
assembled thousands with a full view of the Father of his Coun- 
try. Not so ; he paused for his secretary, who had got out of 
the other carriage, decorated like his own. The secretary as- 
cended the steps, handed him a paper, probably a copy of the 
speech he was to deliver, when both entered the building. An 
English gentleman, a manufacturer, Mr. Henry Wansey, break- 
fasted with Washington and his family on the 8th of June, 1794. 
He was greatly impressed. The first President was then in his 
sixty-third year, but had little appearance of age, having been 
in his life exceedingly temperate. Mrs. Washington herself 
made tea and coffee for them ; on the table were two small 
plates of sliced tongue and dry toast, bread and butter, but no 
broiled fish, as is generally the custom. Miss Eleanor Custis, 
her granddaughter, a very pleasant young lady, in her sixteenth 
year, sat next to her, and next, her grandson, George Washing- 
ton Parke Custis, about two years older. There were but few 
slight indications of form ; one servant only attended, who wore 



r.IRS. WASHINGTON. 263 

no livery. Mrs. Washington struck him as something older 
than the President, although he understood they were both 
born the same year. She was short in stature, rather robust, 
extremely simple in her dress, and wore a very plain cap, with 
her hair turned under it." This description of Mrs. Washing- 
ton corresponds exactly with the portrait painted by Trumbull, 
now in the Trumbull gallery, at New Haven, Connecticut. In 
1793 Washington left Philadelphia for nearly three months dur- 
ing the prevalence of yellow-fever, and stayed at Mount Ver- 
non. The disease broke out in August, but he continued at 
his post until the loth of September. He wished to stay longer, 
but Mrs. Washington was unwilling to leave him exposed, and 
he could not, without hazarding her life and the lives of the 
children, remain. Freneau, the editor who was charged with 
having written the bitterest things against Washington, com- 
plained in the following stanza that the physicians fled from 
Philadelphia to escape the plague : 

" On prancing steed, with sponge at nose, 

From town behold Sangrado fly; 
Camphor and tar, where'er he goes, 

The infected shafts of death defy- 
Safe in an atmosphere of scents, 
He leaves us to our own defense." 

Among the public characters attacked by the yellow-fever 
were Mr. Willing and Colonel Hamilton, but they recovered. 
The officers of the government were dispersed, and the Presi- 
dent even deliberated on the propriety of convening Congress 
elsewhere ; but the abatement of the disease rendered this un- 
necessary, and in November the inhabitants returned to their 
homes, and Congress reassembled on the 2d of December. 

[January 14, 1872.] 



264 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



LIV. 



One Saturday afternoon in July, 1861, George H. Boker, now 
on his way as American Minister to Constantinople, visited 
Washington City and called with me upon President Lincoln. 
It was a most interesting period of the war, just previous to the 
battle of Bull Run. When I presented Boker to the President, 
in his reception-room, up stairs, he asked, "Are you the son 
of Charles S. Boker, of Philadelphia ?" My friend answered, 
" That is what I am believed to be." "Well," said the Presi- 
dent, "I was your father's lawyer in Springfield, and I only wish 
I had all the money I collected and paid to him, for I would 
have a very handsome fortune." The Marine Band was play- 
ing on the green, south of the Presidential mansion, surrounded 
by a gay and glittering crowd. Mr. Lincoln said, " The Ken- 
tucky commissioners are waiting for me on the balcony below. 
They are here to protest against my sending troops through 
their State to the relief of the Unionists of Tennessee, and I 
would like you and Forney to come down and see them. They 
say they want Kentucky to decide her relations to the General 
Government for herself, and that any forces sent through their 
State to the Unionists of Tennessee would certainly arouse the 
elements of revolt." Then Boker told the President an anec- 
dote of the British Minister at the Court of Frederick the Great, 
who was anxious to persuade the King to take part in the 
British conflicts with other European powers. Old Fritz stead- 
ily refused to be involved. His policy was against all part in 
the quarrel. At a formal state dinner, when the British Minis- 
ter was present, Frederick said, "Will my Lord Bristol" — the 
name of the British plenipotentiary — " allow me to send him a 
piece of capon ?" to which the latter indignantly replied, " No, 
sir; I decline having any thing to do with neutral animals." 
The President enjoyed the joke hugely, and we walked down 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN. 265 

stairs, where, on the balcony overlooking the joyous throng, 
stood the two Kentucky commissioners, one of them the emi- 
nent Judge Robertson, lately deceased. They renewed their 
appeals against sending troops across their State with much 
earnestness and ability. Mr. Lincoln quietly but resolutely 
combated their views, assuring them that neutrality did not 
become any of the friends of the Government — that while the 
citizen enjoyed his rights and the protection of the laws, he 
must also recognize his obligations and his duties. Then turn- 
ing to Boker, he asked him to repeat the incident between Fred- 
erick the Great and the British Minister, which, though it made 
the Kentuckians laugh, was evidently not agreeable to them. 
Mr. Lincoln added, " Gentlemen, my position in regard to your 
State is like that of the woodman, who, returning to his home 
one night, found coiled around his beautiful children, who were 
quietly sleeping in their bed, several poisonous snakes. His 
first impulse was to save his little ones, but he feared that if he 
struck at the snakes he might strike the children, and yet he 
dared not let them die without an effort. So it is with me. I 
know Kentucky and Tennessee are infested with the enemies 
of the Union ; but I know also that there are thousands of pa- 
triots in both who will be persecuted even unto death unless 
the strong hand of the Government is interposed for their pro- 
tection and rescue. We must go in. The old flag must be 
carried into Tennessee at whatever hazard." Upon which the 
commissioners retired with unconcealed dissatisfaction. Un- 
happily for the good cause, it was many months before relief 
could be extended to the clamorous people of Tennessee. Ken- 
tucky lay athwart the road to their rescue, a dark and stubborn 
obstacle ; and now, six years after the overthrow of the rebell- 
ion — thanks to the dangerous doctrine of neutrality — the State 
most obdurate and obstinate in its opposition to all progress, 
most ready to resort to violence against the law, most eager in 
its opposition to the Union people, most intolerant to free opin- 

M 



266 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

ion, most qualified to throw the largest vote against the Repub- 
lican party — is this very State of Kentucky. So much for neu- 
trality in politics and in war. In a few days came the first bat- 
tle of Bull Run with all its attendant horrors, teaching to us the 
severest lesson of the great conflict — the lesson that a great 
people, armed for their own defense and for their own liberties, 
must be prepared at all poiftts. Just at that period the genius of 
Boker broke out in a great poem, entitled "Upon the Hill before 
Centreville, July 21, 1861," from which I extract the following: 

" Awake, my countrymen ! with me 
Redeem the honor which you lost, 
With any blood, at any cost ! 
I ask not how the war began. 
Nor how the quarrel branched and ran 
To this dread height. The wrong or right 
Stands clear before God's faultless sight. 
I only feel the shameful blow, 
I only see the scornful foe. 
And vengeance burns in every vein 
To die, or wipe away the stain. 
The war-wise hero of the West, 
Wearing his glories as a crest 
Of trophies gathered in your sight, 
Is arming for the coming fight. 
Full well his wisdom apprehends 
The duty and its mighty ends ; 
The great occasion of the hour, 
That never lay in human power 
Since over Yorktown's tented plain 
The red cross fell, nor rose again. 
My humble pledge of faith I lay. 
Dear comrade of my school -boy day, 
Before thee, in the nation's view ; 
And if thy prophet prove untrue. 
And from thy country's grasp be thrown 
The sceptre and the starry crown. 
And thou and all thy marshaled host 
Be baffled, and in ruin lost — 



GEORGE H. BOKER. 267 

O ! let me not outlive the blow 
That seals my country's overthrow ! 
And, lest this woeful end come true, 
Men of the North, I turn to you. 
Display your vaunted flag once more, 
Southward your eager columns pour ! 
Sound trump and fife and rallying drum ; 
From every hill and valley come ! 
Old men, yield up your treasured gold ; 
Can liberty be priced and sold ? 
Fair matrons, maids, and tender brides, 
Gird weapons to your lovers' sides ; 
And, though your hearts break at the deed. 
Give them your blessing and God-speed ; 
Then point them to the field of fame. 
With words like those of Sparta's dame ! 
And when the ranks are full and strong, 
And the whole army moves along, 
A vast result of care and skill, 
Obedient to the master will ; 
And your young hero draws the sword, 
And gives the last commanding word 
That hurls your strength upon the foe — 
O, let them need no second blow ! 
Strike, as your fathers struck of old. 
Through summer's heat and winter's cold ; 
Through pain, disaster, and defeat ; 
Through marches tracked with bloody feet ; 
Through every ill that could befall 
The holy cause that bound them all ! 
Strike as they struck for liberty ! 
Strike as they struck to make you free ! 
Strike for the crown of victory !" 

" The war-wise hero of the West " was George B. McClellan, 
son of the great surgeon, George McClellan, of Philadelphia. 
He had been Boker's "dear comrade of the school-boy days," 
and after the first Bull Run was the nation's hope. His victo- 
ries in West Virginia gave him the opportunity which others 
had lost, to be lost by him in his own turn. Boker wrote sev- 



2 68 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

eral great lyrics afterward, but whatever he may have said of 
other soldiers, the tribute he paid to McClellaii in 1861 was the 
outpouring of a sincere and hopeful heart. 

[January 21, 1872.] 



LV. 

The first theatrical performance in Philadelphia of which 
there is any mention was in January of 1749, evidently con- 
ducted by home-made Thespians. In 1754 some genuine art- 
ists arrived, called " Hallam's Company," and got a Hcense to 
open their " New Theatre in Water Street," in William Plum- 
stead's store, corner of the first alley above Pine Street. Here 
they acted "The Fair Penitent" and "Miss in her Teens" as 
their first effort. Boxes, 6s.; pit, 4^./ gallery, 2s. 6d. In 1759 
they opened at the corner of Vernon Street, then beyond the 
city bounds, so as to be out of the reach of the city authorities. 
They were violently assailed by the Friends, and they made 
every effort to evade this hostility by calling their entertainment 
a " Concert of Music," and by playing "George Barnwell" "for 
the benefit of the College of Philadelphia," and "to improve 
youth in the divine art of psalm and church music." The Brit- 
ish occupation of Philadelphia revived the drama. They used 
the Southwark Theatre, the performers being officers of Howe's 
army, the proceeds going to the widows and orphans of the 
soldiers. Major Andre and Captain Delancy were the scene- 
painters. In 1793 the Chestnut Street Theatre, northwest cor- 
ner of Sixth and Chestnut, was erected, under the name of the 
"New Theatre," in opposition to the Southwark Theatre, known 
afterward as the Old Theatre. This is the house patronized 
by Washington, the statesmen in Congress, and the Cabinet 
and their families. 



OLD THEATRES OF PHILADELPHIA. 269 

The New Theatre was not opened, in consequence of the 
yellow-fever, until the 17th of February, 1794. The manager 
was Wigfall or Wignell, famous in the annals of the American 
stage, and "the house was fitted up with a luxurious elegance 
hitherto unknown in this country." The principal actors were 
Whitlock, Harwood, Morton, Darley, Mrs. Oldmixon, Mrs. 
Morris, and Mrs. Marshall. Harwood married Miss Bache, 
granddaughter of Dr. Franklin. Mrs. Whitlock was a sister of 
Mrs. Siddons. The illustrious John Jay writes from Philadel- 
phia to his wife on the 13th of April, 1794, just previous to his 
appointment as envoy extraordinary to the Court of London, as 
follows : " Two evenings ago I went to the theatre with Mrs. 
Robert Morris and her family. 'The Gamester,' a deep trag- 
edy, succeeded by a piece called ' The Guardian,' were played." 
An English traveler describes the theatre " as elegant, conven- 
ient, and large as that of Covent Garden. I should have thought 
myself still in England. The ladies wore small bonnets of the 
same fashion as those I saw in London, some of checkered 
straw ; many had their hair full dress, without caps, as with us, 
and very few had it in the French style. Gentlemen had round 
hats, coats with high collars, cut quite in the English fashion, 
and many coats of striped silk." The motto over the stage, 
" The eagle suffers little birds to sing," is explained by the fact 
that when it was in contemplation to build the theatre, the 
Quakers used all their influence with Congress to prevent it ; 
but Robert Morris and General Anthony Wayne successfully 
advocated the establishment of theatres for the public amuse- 
ment. Wigfall, the manager, fell under the displeasure of the 
beautiful Mrs. Bingham. The cause of the quarrel seems to 
have been because she desired to furnish and decorate her box 
at her own expense, with the absolute condition that the key 
should be kept by herself and no admission allowed to any 
one, except on her assent. Wigfall refused the exclusive re- 
quest, and in consequence Mrs. Bingham and her set rarely 



270 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

attended the theatre. The great rival of the new Chestnut 
Street Theatre was " the Grand Circus," controlled and owned 
by the celebrated Ricketts. Washington and his family went 
frequently to both their performances. 

On Monday, the 27th of February, 1797, Benjamin Franklin 
Bache's Philadelphia Aurora a?id Advertiser contained the fol- 
lowing paragraph : " The President of the United States, we 
understand, intends to visit the theatre THIS EVENING,/^/- 
the last ti7ney The performance was the celebrated new com- 
edy, for the fourth time, called " The Way to Get Married," " as 
performed at Covent Garden (I copy from the advertisement) 
thirty-nine nights without intermission, the first season, and 
since upward of one hundred and fifty nights, with unbounded 
applause. At the end of the comedy the pantomime ballet, 
composed by Mr. Byrne, called ' Dermit Kathleen,' to which 
will be added a farce called 'Animal Magnetism.' Boxes, 
$1 25; pit, seven eighths of a dollar; gallery, half a dollar. 
The doors of the theatre will open at five o'clock, and the cur- 
tain will rise precisely at six o'clock. Ladies and gentlemen 
are requested to send their servants to keep places a quarter 
before five o'clock, and to order them, as soon as the company 
are seated, to withdraw, as they can on no account be permitted 
to remain." 

The first President and all his successors were constant at- 
tendants at the theatres, although it was some years before such 
an institution was built in Washington City after it became the 
national capital. 

The habit of attending places of public amusement had no 
exception in our Presidents. It was a good way to see and to 
be seen by the people. Mrs. John Adams wrote in eulogy of 
the New Chestnut, in Philadelphia, and her husband, the sec- 
ond President, attended of course. Jefferson's residence in 
France, his musical tastes, his fondness for polite literature, all 
made him like the stage. Madison, Monroe, and John Quincy 



INFLUENCE OF ACTORS. 2'Jl 

Adams were all men of letters, and the latter as late as 1845 
had quite a discussion with James H. Hackett on the character 
of Hainlet. Jackson went frequently to the play, and Van Bu- 
ren followed his example. So of John Tyler, Polk, Taylor, 
Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan. Lincoln was killed in the 
theatre. Andrew Johnson liked the drama when he was in 
Congress, and did not give it up when he was Chief Magistrate. 
General Grant conforms to the custom of his predecessors. 

Actors have always wielded a large influence, though few 
have been politicians. It was Talma, I believe, who boasted 
that he had played to " a whole pit full of kings." Jefferson, the 
grandfather of Joseph, who, by acting a single character, has 
made himself rich in fortune and fame, was a rare favorite with 
the leading men of Pennsylvania, especially with Chief Justice 
John Bannister Gibson, who wrote the impressive words upon 
his tombstone at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Forrest has been 
welcome in every social circle, where, by his humor and genius, 
he has surpassed all rivals. John Brougham is perhaps the 
finest of dinner-table companions, only excelled by the late 
John Van Buren and John T. Sullivan. There is no more 
genial gentleman than Davenport, whom you meet at most of 
the great parties in Philadelphia. Edwin Booth is exceedingly 
popular in New York society. Nobody, during his lifetime, 
was so much sought after as Power, the incomparable Irish 
comedian. The late William B. Wood was even more interest- 
ing off than on the stage. William E. Burton, in his time, dis- 
tinguished himself by uncommon versatility as a writer and a 
comedian. The Wallacks have made fame for themselves by 
scholarship and success as managers and actors. Fanny Kem- 
ble, the last of a long list of great artists, shone with equal brill- 
iancy in private and public life. It is natural that such people 
should be attractive to statesmen. Students of the manners 
and habits of other countries, and mimics of the manners and 
habits of our own, where can the wearied public servant find a 



272 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

surer and a better rest than in listening to the words of the great 
men of the past as these are echoed from the stage by cultivated 
students ? The President, who visits the theatre, not only sees 
the people and is seen by them, but reposes, so to speak, with- 
out interruption, upon the delightful utterances of deathless 
minds. Mr. Lincoln liked the theatre not so much for itself 
as because of the rest it afforded him. I have seen him more 
than once looking at a play without seeming to know what was 
going on before him. Abstracted and silent, scene after scene 
would pass, and nothing roused him until some broad joke or 
curious antic disturbed his equanimity. We are in the habit of 
saying that the drama of the present is not equal to the drama 
of the past — a truism, like many others, easily contradicted. 
Turn to New York, Philadelphia, or any of the great cities, 
and compare the number of amusements offered every night 
with the scarcity of the same attractions fifty years ago ; the 
delightful repetition of the works of the great masters ; the 
endless inventions of modern playwrights ; the infinite variety 
of opera, comedy, tragedy, and spectacular pantomime ; and no 
other fact is needed to enforce the argument that if we are not 
wiser than our ancestors, we certainly ought to be. 

[January 28, 1872.] 



LVI. 

Much of the recreation of the public men at the capital of 
the nation in former times was entertaining and instructive. 
The era of lectures seems to have superseded these symposia — 
perhaps for the better; but I always recur to them as the un- 
forgotten and unsurpassed pleasures of my life. There were 
cards and wine, of course ; but the real attractions were im- 
promptu wit and humor, recitations, magnetic speeches, music, 



SOCIAL LIFE IN WASHINGTON. 273 

and songs; and as the participants were generally cultivated 
and representative men, it needed no formal rule to exclude 
vulgarity. Every one had a constituency of some sort to re- 
spect and fear, even if he did not respect himself; and, as they 
were of all sides in politics, many meeting for the first time, and 
never to meet again, they did their best to leave the best im- 
pressions. Ah, could those " Noctes Ambrosianae" have been 
taken down in short-hand, or recorded by a faithful scribe like 
Pepys, Boswell, or Crabbe Robinson, what a delicious repast 
would have been left to posterity ! When William E. Burton 
came to Washington to play, and after the curtain fell would 
join one of these assemblies, and give us his raciest things 
spontaneously ; when Charlie Oakford, of Philadelphia — clever, 
genial, and ever-ready Oakford — rolled out Drake's "Ode to 
the American Flag," with a voice so rich and mellow; when 
Murdoch moved us to tears with Janvier's " Sleeping Sentinel," 
or stilled us with the sweet drowsiness of Buchanan Read's 
"Drifting;" when John Hay recited one of his fine creations, 
or Fitz -James O'Brien or Charles G. Halpine thrilled us with 
a song of war or of love ; when Jack Savage sung us " The 
Temptation of St. Anthony," or rare Forrest dropped the tra- 
gedian, and played for us the mimic and the comedian ; or 
Jefferson sung his "Cuckoo Song;" or Nesmith of Oregon left 
the Senate to set our table in a roar; we had no thought of 
phonography, and no time that was not crowded with ecstacy. 
Some of these are dead, and all are absent from the scenes of 
these happy evenings. Other forms crowd the saloons; other 
voices wake the echoes of other hearts; other eyes glisten with 
responsive smiles and tears. Every night we had something 
new, for the inventors of our amusements were artists, who work- 
ed for the best of all rewards — the happiness of their fellows. 

At one time it was an opera sung by a corps of amateurs, 
with a houseful of Congressmen in the choruses. Then we 
" Buried Joe Sanders," to illustrate the sin of idleness. This 

M 2 



2 74 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

was the late John L. Dawson's great story. Joe was a village 
nuisance, who would not work, and lived upon what he could 
borrow or beg. At last it was resolved to bury him alive, and 
so relieve the village. A coffin was duly prepared, with a place 
for him to see and breathe, and the procession started, Joe in- 
side, resigned to his fate. Passing by the blacksmith, who stood 
at his shop-door, Vulcan asked who was to be buried. The 
chief mourner answered, "Joe Sanders." "What! is poor Joe 
dead ?" " Oh no ! but he is so great a nuisance that, rather 
than support him any longer, we have resolved to put him in 
the grave alive." " Oh, that won't do," says the smith ; " I have 
enough corn to keep him going for some time, and he shall have 
it." Joe overhears the dialogue, lifts the coffin lid, and quietly 
asks, " Is the corn shelled .?" " No," is the indignant reply. 
"Well, then," says the disgusted Joe, '^ go on with the funeral'' 
Dawson used to tell this as a joke upon the Southerners, to 
prove that they lived without labor. To play this piece was 
quite an event, and required a first-rate Joe and a very con- 
siderable procession, with a good feast after the dead man was 
in his grave — generally the back parlor. 

One memorable night in January of 1859 deserves to be spe- 
cially embalmed. It has been recorded in a volume for private 
circulation, but has never had any public place. Albert Pike, 
a name well known in poetry and journalism, though not so 
well remembered in the North for his part in the rebellion, yet 
withal one of the most genial of men, was reported killed by an 
accident, to the great grief of his very many friends in Washing- 
ton. The report was proved to be false by the sudden appear- 
ance of Pike himself, whereupon John F. Coyle, of the National 
Intelligencer^ determined to honor him by an Irish " wake " at 
his residence. More than a hundred people participated. It 
was called " The Life Wake of the fine Arkansas Gentleman 
who died before his time." The " obituary " was read by Alexan- 
der Dimitry, of New Orleans, after which Coyle sang a capital 



THE WAKE OF ALBERT PIKE. 275 

parody on Pike's own rare parody of the " Fine Old English 
Gentleman," a few verses of which will show its quality. Pike 
had lived a varied life, especially among the Indians of Arkan- 
sas, which will account for the allusions to the red men : 

" The fine Arkansas gentleman restored to life once more, 
Continued to enjoy himself as he had done before ; 
And, tired of civilized pursuits, concluded he would go 
To see some Indian friends he had, and chase the buffalo. 

This fine Arkansas gentleman, 

Who died before his time. 

" The rumor of his visit had extended far and near, 
And distant chiefs and warriors came with bow and gun and spear ; 
So when he reached the council-grounds, with much delight he sees 
Delegations from the Foxes, Sioux, Quapaws, Blackfeet, Pottawatomies, 
Gros Ventres, Arrapahoes, Comanches, Creeks, Navajoes, Choctaws, 
and Cherokees. 

This fine Arkansas gentleman, etc. 

" They welcomed him with all the sports well known on the frontier, 
He hunted buffalo and elk, and lived on grouse and deer ; 
And having brought his stores along, he entertained each chief 
With best Otard and whisky, smoking and chewing tobacco, not forgetting 
cards, with instructions in seven -up, brag, bluff, and was whooped 
whoo-oo-ooo-oooped till he was deaf. 
This fine Arkansas gentleman, etc. 

*' He went to sleep among these friends, in huts or tents of skin. 
And if it rained or hailed or snowed, he didn't care a pin. 
For he'd lined his hide with whisky and a brace of roasted grouse, 
And he didn't mind the weather any more than if he slept in a four-story 
brown-stone front, tip roof, fire-proof Fifth Avenue house. 
This fine Arkansas gentleman, etc. 

*' Now while he was enjoying all that such adventure brings. 
The chase and pipe and bottle, and such like forbidden things, 
Some spalpeen of an editor, the Lord had made in vain, 
Inserted in his horrible accident column, among murders, robberies, thefts, 
camphene accidents, collisions, explosions, defalcations, seductions, 
abductions, and destructions, under a splendid black-bordered notice, 
the lamentable news that — he was dead again. 
This fine Arkansas gentleman, etc. 



276 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

'* But far above the common grief— though he was good as gold — 
His creditors, like Jacob's wife, refused to be consoled ; 
They granted him a poet, and a warrior, if you will, 

But said they had extensive experience in generals, commodores, orators, 
statesmen, congressmen, actors, editors, letter -writers, route agents, 
conductors, and other public characters who — rarely paid a bill. 
This fine Arkansas gentleman, etc. 

" Behold, in this excitement our distinguished friend arrived, 
We * knew from a remark he made' that he was still alive ; 
Then every journal joyously the contradiction quotes, 
The tailors take his measure, and the banks renew his notes. 
This fine Arkansas gentleman, etc." 

A racy song in such a voice electrified the dead man, who 
woke and spoke at length, and in part as follows : 

" If any of us have unfortunately, and even by their fault, be- 
come estranged from old friends, and if in this circle we miss 
any of the old familiar faces that were once welcomed among 
us with delight, surely I shall not be deemed to tread upon for- 
bidden ground if, thinking aloud, I murmur that at some time 
hereafter, when perhaps it is too late, perhaps not until the por- 
tals of another life open to us, but surely then, at the furthest, 
all the old kindly feelings will revive, and the misunderstanding 
of the past will seem to have been only unreal shadows. 

" Let us remember that ' we love but to lose those we love, 
and to see the grave-yards become populous with the bodies of 
the dead, where in our childhood were open woods or cultivated 
fields;' and that we can not afford to lose any of our friends 
while yet they live. * Every where around us, as we look out 
into the night, we can see the faces of those we have loved, and 
who have gone away before us, shining upon us like stars.' 
Alas ! for us, if, besides these that we have lost, there are other 
faces of the living looking sadly upon us out of the darkness, 
regretting that they too could not, even if it be their own fault, 
have been with us here to-night, beaming with pleasure and 
sympathy as of yore. Must not I, at least, always feel hq\y true 



A NIGHT AT JOHNNY COYLE's. 277 

it is that if men were perfect they might respect each other 
more, but would love each other less ? and that we love our 
friend more for his weaknesses and failings, which we must 
overlook and forgive, than for his rigid virtues, which demand 
our admiration more than our affection ? Let the memories of 
the dead soften our feelings toward the living, and while by expe- 
rience we grow in knowledge, let us also, knowing that we all fall 
short of perfect excellence, grow in love — from within, like the 
large oaks, as well as from without, like the hard, cold crystals. 

" I submit it to your indulgence to decide whether, desiring 
to be at peace with all the world and to serve my fellows, I may 
not be forgiven for wishing to live a little longer. If I desired 
to live for myself alone, the judgment rendered against me 
ought to be affirmed. In that case I would already have lived 
too long. I wish, and I am sure we all wish, to work for the 
men of the future, as the men of the past have lived for us, and 
to plant the acorns from which shall spring the oaks that shall 
shelter those who will live after we are dead. It is as natural 
as to enjoy the shade of those our fathers planted. 

" I detain you too long. May the memory of each of you, 
when it comes to you to die, be as kindly cherished and as 
gently dealt with as mine has been ; and if you, like me, should 
have the good fortune to read your own obituaries, may you 
have as good cause to be grateful for the consequences of the 
mistake as I have ! You deserve no less fortune, and I could 
wish you none better." 

Afterward John Savage sung Pike's own song on his own de- 
mise, in a noble tenor, a strain of which I quote : 

" A gentleman from Arkansas, not long ago, 'tis said. 
Waked up one pleasant morning and discovered he was dead; 
He was on his way to Washington, not seeking for the spoils, 
But rejoicing in the promise of a night at Johnny Coyle's. 

" He waked and found himself aboard a rickety old boat; 
Says the ferryman, when questioned, ' On the Styx you are afloat.' 



278 ANECDOTES 07 PUBLIC MEN. 

' What ! dead ?' said he. ' Indeed you are,' the grim old churl replied. 
' Why, then, I'll miss the night at Coyle's,' the gentleman replied. 

•* Old Charon ferried him across the dirty, sluggish tide, 
But he swore he would not tarry long upon the farther side ; 
The ancient ghosts came flocking round upon the Stygian shore; 

* But,' said he, * excuse me; I must have at Coyle's one frolic more.' 

" He crossed the adamantine halls and reached the ebon throne, 
Where gloomy Pluto frowned, and where his queen's soft beauty shone. 

* What want you here ?' the monarch said. * Your Majesty,' said he, 

* Permission at one frolic more at Johnny Coyle's to be. 

" * 'Tis not for power or wealth or fame I hanker to return, 
Nor that love's kisses once again upon my lips may burn ; 
Let me but once more meet the friends that long have been so dear, 
And who, if I'm not there, will say, '* Would God that he were here !" ' 

" * If it's good company you want,' the King said, * we've the best — 
Philosophers, poets, orators, wits, statesmen, and the rest, 
The courtiers of the good old times, the gentlemen most rare.' 
Says he, * With those I'll meet at Coyle's yot^r folks will not compare.' 

" Says the King: 'There's Homer here, and all the bards of ancient Greece, 
And the chaps that sailed away so far to fetch the Golden Fleece ; 
We've Tully, Horace, and Montaigne.' Says he, * I'll match the lot. 
If you'll let me go to Johnny Coyle's and fetch them on the spot.' 

" ' Enough !' old Pluto cried; * the law must be enforced. 'Tis plain, 
If with those fellows once you get, you'll ne'er return again; 
One night would not content you, and your face would ne'er be seen, 
After that night at Johnny Coyle's, by me or by my queen. 

•• ' And if all these fellows came at once, what would become of us ? 
They'd drown old Charon in the Styx, and murder Cerebus; 
Make love to all the women here, and even to my wife; 
Drink all my liquor up, and be the torment of my life.' ". 

The portraits in the private volume before me of the chief 
actors in this humorous drama are preceded by that of Pike 
himself, who is described by one of them, Dr. Shelton Macken- 
zie, as " a stalwart figure, large and lofty, with keen eyes, a nose 
reminding one of an eagle's beak, a noble head firmly placed 
between a pair of massive shoulders, and flowing locks nearly 



BEST-ABUSED MEN. 279 

half way down his back." He may be seen in Washington City 
any day, where he now practices his profession, in company 
with ex-Senator R. AV. Johnson, of Arkansas, whose fine face 
smiles upon me from the same pages. Here we have Elias 
Rector, the famous Indian agent of the same State, whose Hfe 
has been almost as romantic as that of Pike, and whose con- 
versation was as unique as his anecdotes were fresh ; then kind- 
hearted Arnold Harris, of Tennessee, whose well-remembered 
song, " Miss Patsey," accompanied by his odd negro dance, re- 
calls his features, even better than his photograph, from beyond 
the grave ; then " Father " Kingman, the rich and retired "Ion " 
of the Baltimore Sun; then Alexander Dimitry, " that peripa- 
tetic encyclopedia," says Dr. Mackenzie, " who is popularly be- 
lieved to have intimate acquaintance with all the dead lan- 
guages, and also with the tongues of nearly every undiscovered 
country in the world. He translates their books, he speaks 
their tongues, he knows the variety of their dialects, he remem- 
bers their ballads, and sings them splendidly, occasionally trans- 
lating them into good Anglo-Saxon verse for the benefit of the 
unlearned. I shall not soon forget the ore rotunda swell of his 
organ-like tones, deep and resonant as those which Lablache 
used to pour out from his capacious chest." There are many 
more of these portraits, but these will suffice to give some idea 
of the pleasant and profitable pastimes of the men of thought 
and action at the nation's capital ten, fifteen, twenty years ago. 

[February 4, 1872.] 



LVII. 

Is it not true that the public men best abused are the best 
remembered.'' Certainly Andrew Jackson looms up through 
all the mists and misrepresentations of the past like a great 



28o ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Statue founded as if to last forever. Witness the tribute paid 
to his memory by Henry A. Wise in his just-published book — 
a book bitter enough as regards Benton and others, but abound- 
ing in compliments to the hero President, of whom Wise, during 
his early career in Congress, was perhaps the most violent 
assailant. Witness, also, the extraordinary memoir of James 
Parton, the most caustic and remorseless of critics. Never 
shall I forget the eulogy of George Bancroft, pronounced twen- 
ty-six years ago, while he was Secretary of the Navy under 
President Polk, after the intelligence of the death of Jackson had 
been received in Washington. The affluence of genius never 
produced a more exquisite offspring. The rapidity with which it 
was prepared, the fervor with which it was pronounced, and its 
effect upon the public mind, excited the wonder and delight of 
the followers of Old Hickory ; and if you turn to it now you 
will find it surpassed by nothing in the interesting volume which 
preserves the "Jackson Obsequies." At the end of nearly a 
generation, we find the ardent expressions of a partisan Cabinet 
Minister equaled by the more deliberate praise of former polit- 
ical adversaries. Why is this .'' Simply because Andrew Jack- 
son's inspiration through his whole life was a passionate love 
of the Union — a fixed and even ferocious determination to put 
down its enemies at whatever hazard or cost. Henry Clay and 
Daniel Webster live in the affections of posterity more because 
they were animated by the same principle, than because of the 
fame of the one as an orator and the other as a statesman and 
jurist. They forgot party when their country was in peril, bury- 
ing or postponing animosities as against even their severest foe, 
Andrew Jackson, when he struck the key-note and declared 
that " the Union must and shall be preserved." Something 
like this was the scene between George Wolf and Thaddeus 
Stevens, some thirty-six years ago, when in the midst of the 
anti-Masonic excitement which Stevens headed against Wolf, 
Dallas, Rev. Mr. Sprole, and other Masonic dignitaries— even 



OLD HICKORY. 25 1 

to the extent of threatening them with imprisonment — ^\Volf and 
Stevens forgot their envenomed quarrel in the ardor with which 
they together pressed forward the great cause of popular edu- 
cation. No name can perish from memory or history that is 
truly identified with civilization and liberty. I was talking of 
these things the other day with an old Ohio Whig, at present a 
Republican, when he related an anecdote of Old Hickory which 
I had never heard before, and which I think worth preserving. 
After Jackson's first election in 1828, a strong effort was made 

to remove General , an old Revolutionary soldier, at that 

time postmaster in one of the principal New York towns. He 
had been so fierce an Adams man that the Jackson men deter- 
mined to displace him. He was no stranger to Jackson, who 
knew him well, and was conscious of his private worth and public 
services ; but as the effort to get his place was a determined 
one, General resolved to undertake a journey to Washing- 
ton for the purpose of looking after his case. Silas Wright had 
just left his seat as a Representative in Congress from New 
York. Never was the Empire State more ably represented. 
Cool, honest, profound, and subtle, Mr. W^right was precisely 
the man to head a movement against the old postmaster. His 
influence with Jackson was boundless. His force in debate 
made him a match for the giants themselves ; and as Mr. Van 
Buren was then Jackson's Secretary of State, the combination 
was powerful. The old postmaster, knowing that these two 
political masters were against him, called upon the President 
immediately upon his arrival, and was most courteously received 
and requested to call again, which he did several times, but 
nothing was said about the post-office. Finally the politicians 
finished their protest, and sent it forward to Mr. Wright, with 
the request that it should be delivered at the first opportunity. 
The old postmaster heard from his friends at home that the 
important document was on its way, so he resolved on a coup 
de main. The next day there was a Presidential reception, and 



282 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

among the early visitors was General . After a cordial 

greeting by Jackson, he quietly took his seat, and waited until 
the long train of visitors had duly saluted the nation's Chief 
and passed through the grand East Room on their way home. 
The President turned to his venerable guest with some surprise 
as he noticed him still seated on one of the sofas, and entered 
into familiar conversation with him, when, to his amazement, 
the old soldier said, " General Jackson, I have come here to 
talk to you about my office. The politicians want to take it 
from me, and they know I have nothing else to live upon." 
The President made no reply, till the aged postmaster began 
to take off his coat in the most excited manner, when Old Hick- 
ory broke out with the inquiry : " What in Heaven's name are 
you going to do ? Why do you take off your coat in this public 
place ?" " Well, sir, I am going to show you my wounds, which 
I received in fighting for my country against the English!" 
" Put it on at once, sir !" was the reply ; " I am surprised that 
a man of your age should make such an exhibition of himself," 
and the eyes of the iron President were suffused with tears, as 
without another word he bade his ancient foe good-evening. 
The very next night the crafty and able New York politician 
called at the White House and sent in his card. He was im- 
mediately ushered into the presence, and found Jackson, in 
loose gown and slippers, seated before a blazing wood fire, qui- 
etly smoking his long pipe. After the ordinary courtesies had 
been exchanged, the politician opened his budget. He repre- 
sented the district from which the venerable postmaster hailed ; 
said the latter had been known as a very active advocate of 
John Quincy Adams ; that he had literally forfeited his place 
by his earnest opposition to the Jackson men, and that if he 
were not removed, the new Administration would be seriously 
injured. He had hardly finished the last sentence, when Jack- 
son sprung to his feet, flung his pipe into the fire, and exclaimed, 
with great vehemence, " I take the consequences, sir ; I take 



s. s. cox. 283 

the consequences. By the Eternal ! I will not remove the old 
man — I can not remove him. Why, Mr. Wright, do you not 
know that he carries more than a pound of British lead in his 
body ?" That was the last of it. He who was stronger than 
courts, courtiers, or cabinets, pronounced his fiat, and the 
happy old postmaster next day took the stage and returned 
home rejoicing. 
[February 11, 1872.] 



LVIII. 

While I was editor of the Washington Ufiioft, under the ad- 
ministration of President Pierce, a very interesting incident 
took place at a dinner at my former residence, now the Census 
Bureau, on Eighth Street, near F. It was attended by a num- 
ber of the Democratic leaders, including John C. Breckinridge, 
of Kentucky, Lawrence M. Keitt, of South Carolina, Jesse D. 
Bright, of Indiana, John Slidell, of Louisiana, and several whose 
names I can not remember. Hon. Samuel S. Cox, then a very 
young man, just known for his book, " The Buckeye Abroad," 
and for his talents as an occasional lecturer, was among the 
guests, and did me the honor to write an editorial against the 
Know-Nothings — the proof of which was sent to us while we 
were at the table, and read aloud for the general delectation. 
Mr. Keitt was full of humor, and took special delight in teasing 
Mr. Breckinridge by his raillery of the Kentuckians — their pe- 
culiar habits and ideas. The retort of Breckinridge was re- 
called to me the other evening at the reporters' banquet in 
Washington by Mr. Cox, who, after having been appointed Sec- 
retary of Legation to Peru, in 1855, was chosen a Representa- 
tive in Congress from Ohio for three successive terms, and then, 
on his removal to the city of New York, chosen several terms 



284 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

to the same body, in which he now figures as one of the ablest 
advocates of the Democratic party. Breckinridge wittily de- 
scribed a recent trip to South Carolina, and his meeting with 
several of the original Secessionists — one of them a militia offi- 
cer in Keitt's district, who had just returned from a training, 
clothed in faded regimentals, with a huge trooper's sword at his 
side, and a chapeau surmounted with a very long plume. He 
was full of enthusiasm for " the cause," and descanted with par- 
ticular eloquence upon what he called the wrongs of the South. 
" I tell you, sah, we can not stand it any longer ; we intend to 
fight ; we are preparing to fight ; it is impossible, sah, that we 
should submit, sah, even for an additional hour, sah." "And 
from what are you suffering?" quietly asked Breckinridge. 
" Why, sah, we are suffering under the oppressions of the Fed- 
eral Government. We have been suffering under it for thirty 
years, and will stand it no more." " Now," said Breckinridge, 
turning to Keitt, " I would advise my young friend here to in- 
vite some of his constituents, before undertaking the war, upon 
a tour through the North, if only for the purpose of teaching 
them what an almighty big country they will have to whip be- 
fore they get through !" The effect was irresistible, and the 
impulsive but really kind-hearted South Carolina Hotspur 
joined in the loud laughter excited by Breckinridge's retort. 
Somehow the name of Baker is always associated in my mind 
with that of Breckinridge. You have not forgotten my descrip- 
tion of the thrilling scene between these two men, after the 
battle of Bull Run, in the Senate of the United States — the 
eloquent attack of Breckinridge upon the administration of 
Mr. Lincoln, and the magnetic reply of Baker, who had just 
come in from his camp in time to hear the outburst of the Ken- 
tuckian, and to answer it on the spot with such overwhelming 
force. He was killed in one of the Virginia battles, October 
21, 1861, and on the 28th of that month I reproduced in an 
" Occasional" letter one of his fugitive poems, which is so beau- 



PROPHETIC POETRY. 285 

tiful, and the last verse of which applies so strikingly to his 
untimely death, that I copy it here : 

"TO A WAVE. 

" Dost thou seek a star with thy swelling crest, 

wave, that leavest thy mother's breast ? 
Dost thou leap from the prisoned depths below 
In scorn of their calm and constant flow ? 

Or art thou seeking some distant land, 
To die in murmurs upon the strand .'' 

*' Hast thou tales to tell of the pearl-lit deep, 
Where the wave-whelmed mariner rocks in sleep ? 
Canst thou speak of navies that sunk in pride 
Ere the roll of their thunder in echo died ? 
What trophies, what banners, are floating free 
In the shadowy depths of that silent sea ? 

" It were vain to ask, as thou rollest afar, 
Of banner or mariner, ship or star : 
It were vain to seek in thy stormy face 
Some tale of the sorrowful past to trace ; 
Thou art swelling high, thou art flashing free, 
How vain are the questions we ask of thee. 

** I too am a wave on the stormy sea ; 

1 too am a wanderer, driven like thee ; 
I too am seeking a distant land. 

To be lost and gone ere I reach the strand — 

For the land I seek is a waveless shore, 

And those who once reach it shall wander no more." 

[February 18, 1872.] 



LIX. 

Shortly after my return from Europe, in 1867, I rn^t the 
present Chief Justice Cartter of the Supreme Court of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia; and Hon. John M. Thayer, then Senator in 



286 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Congress from Nebraska, corner of Tenth and Pennsylvania 
Avenue. Andrew Johnson was doing his level best to destroy 
the Republican party, and the chief hope of patriots and politi- 
cians was a Republican candidate for President who could se- 
cure a majority of electoral votes. Johnson had so utterly de- 
moralized politics as to make it an even chance whether the 
Republicans could elect anybody. He had consolidated the 
South against us, and had corrupted enough of the North to 
render it exceedingly doubtful whether a Republican successor 
could be elected with the power of the National Government 
against him. He came into the Presidency under tragic cir- 
cumstances, and his plans were so well laid that if our institu- 
tions had not been singularly elastic, and our people intensely 
patriotic, he would have undoubtedly transferred the Govern- 
ment to the hands of those who rushed to arms to destroy it. 
I saw enough after he had rejoined the Democrats — after he 
had yielded to the rebel element — to convince me that unless 
we could secure some good strong name the Republican party 
was bankrupt. And there was a vast deal in Johnson's theo- 
ry to captivate Republicans as strong as Doolittle, of Wiscon- 
sin, Cowan, of Pennsylvania, and Foster, of Connecticut. Aid- 
ed by that extraordinary intellect, William H. Seward, Johnson 
made the most decided onset against the Republican party that 
has ever been or ever can be made. Full of these apprehen- 
sions, there was something of a coincidence when I met Justice 
Cartter and Senator Thayer, and was not much surprised when 
they said, "Why can we not make General Grant the Republican 
candidate for the Presidency ? — every body is for him ; his star 
is the star of victory. There are two things necessary — his own 
consent and an approved Republican record. Now, will you not 
apply yourself to a thorough examination into the political dec- 
larations of Grant since he left Galena as a volunteer against 
' the rebellion ?" I answered with perfect frankness, " that I had 
had quite enough to do with making Presidents. I had assist- 



GENERAL GRANT'S NOMINATION. 287 

ed somewhat in the election of James Buchanan in 1856, and 
had contributed to the nomination of Andrew Johnson as the 
Republican candidate for Vice-President in 1864; and that, 
with my experience of public men generally, I did not feel war- 
ranted to undertake such a task;" but the earnest appeals of 
my good friends prevailed, and I retired to my rooms on Capi- 
tol Hill, and prepared the five-column article which appeared in 
the Washington Chronicle and the Philadelphia Press of Novem- 
ber 7, 1867. After it was in type, Senator Thayer and myself 
called upon John A. Rawlins, Chief of General Grant's staff, 
and read it to him. He instantly advised that it should appear 
the very next day; but I answered that "General Grant was not 
a candidate for President, and did not desire to be, and if I 
printed it without authority, there was little doubt that some su- 
perserviceable politician would call upon him and ask him 
if he had been made a candidate with his sanction. He will, 
of course, reply that he never saw the article till it was in print,/ 
and so all your schemes to make him President will gajig aj 
g/ey." Then Rawlins took it in to General Grant, and stayed 
a long time. When he returned he said, "General Grant is 
quite pleased with your statement of his political record, and 
surprised that he proves to be so good a Republican." Upon 
this hint I printed. But this is not the real point. My misgiv- ; 
ings were correct; for on that very day an elaborate dispatch 
was sent from Washington to the Boston Post, stating that "a dis- 
tinguished friend of General Grant had called upon him with 
the article, and inquired if it met his approval or was published 
with his sanction. He promptly denied all knowledge of the 
publication, and expressed his indignation at the liberty taken 
by his self-styled friend who had concocted the article in ques- 
tion. In speaking of the Hon. E. B. Washburne, who would like 
to be considered the conscience-keeper and guardian of Gen- 
eral Grant, the latter expressed his detestation of Mr. Wash- 
burne's patronizing airs, and said he could not understand why 



288 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

he was so constantly annoyed by his presence, as he had never 
known Mr. Washburne before the war, and that Mr. Washburne 
knew quite as Httle of him." The dispatch concluded as follows : 

"The report of the conversation I obtained directly from Gen- 
eral Grant's friend, with full permission to publish the same, that 
the country may know how far the Radicals are authorized to 
shelter themselves from the storm under General Grant's wing." 

I immediately telegraphed to Washington, and got the follow- 
ing authorized contradiction of the dispatch \x\ \^\^ Boston Post : 

" General Grant expressed neither indignation nor annoyance 
at the appearance of the article in The Chronicle and The Press^ 
nor did he intimate to any one that it misrepresented his polit- 
ical position. As to the remarks attributed to him relative to 
Mr. Washburne, they are so palpably untrue as to stamp the 
character of the entire dispatch. General Grant has never ut- 
tered a word against Mr. Washburne which could have afforded 
the slightest foundation for these atrocious statements. Gen- 
eral Rawlins says that the sentiments attributed to General 
Grant in The Chronicle are undoubtedly those he has held, and 
holds still, and he asserts unequivocally that the italicized 
words, introducing his own words, are true." 

When Rawlins came back from General Grant with the edito- 
rial, he told us with great emphasis, " General Grant does not 
want to be President. He thinks the Republican party may 
need him, and he believes, as their candidate, he can be elect- 
ed and re-elected j but," said Rawlins, "what is to become of 
him after his second Presidential term — what, indeed, during 
his administration ? He is receiving from seventeen to twenty 
thousand dollars a year as General of the armies of the Repub- 
lic — a life salary. To go into the Presidency at twenty-five 
thousand dollars a year for eight years is, perhaps, to gain 
more fame; but what is to become of him at the end of his 
Presidency? He is not a politician. He does not aspire to 
the place. Eight years from the 4th of March, 1869, ^^^ will 



POLITICAL CANDIDATURE. 289 

be about fifty-six years old. Of course he must spend his sal- 
ary as President. England, with her Wellington, her Nelson, 
and her other heroes on land and sea, has never hesitated to 
enrich and ennoble them through all their posterity. Such a 
policy is in accordance with the character of the English gov- 
ernment, but in our country the man who fights for and saves 
the Republic would be a beggar if he depended upon political 
office ; and mark it, if Grant takes any thing from the rich, 
whose vast fortunes he has saved, after he is President, he will 
be accused as the willing recipient of gifts." Just now, when 
General Grant is struggling out of his first term of the Presi- 
dency and struggling into his second, I thought it might not be 
out of place to revive this incident. Is it not true that when 
we elect a man to office w^e at the same time unconsciously en- 
courage others to tear him to pieces ? What public character 
can escape investigation ? What public character can escape 
calumny.? Our best candidates for office are not saints — our 
best Representatives and Senators in Congress are not divini- 
ties. I have shown that even President Washington when he 
closed his second term was regarded as an usurper, and the end 
of his administration declared a great national relief. Please 
understand that in selecting this incident I am simply trying to 
show my countrymen that if we establish an angelic standard 
for our public men, we are not only sure to fail, but perhaps to 
end in making an hereditary monarchy necessary to govern and 
subdue a dissatisfied people. 

Poor Rawlins did not live long after his friend was made 
President. I was one of the last he recognized. No knight 
of the days of chivalry surpassed him in integrity of soul and 
nobility of nature. He was an original Douglas Democrat, but 
no man was more truly influenced by the conscience of the 
fight, and none was ever called before his Creator with a more 
spotless character— public and private. 

[February 25, 1872.] 

N 



290 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



LX. 



Is there- such a thing as unconscious courage ? Of bravery 
against volition ? A coward will fight for his life ; but I know 
a case where a single man routed a large armed force while he 
was in a tremor of fear. The death of General Andrew Porter, 
U. S. A., at Paris, France, a few weeks ago, recalled the story, 
and I tell it as it fell from the lips of one of my old transcribing 
clerks in Washington eighteen years ago — the popular and witty 
Dr. W. P. Reyburn, of New Orleans. He was a surgeon in a 
Louisiana regiment during the Mexican war, and a close friend 
of Andrew Porter, one of the captains in the Mounted Rifles, 
and, if I mistake not, attached to that celebrated corps. He 
was hand-in-glove with all the Southern notables, a welcome 
visitor at every social circle — a fellow of quick wit, with a con- 
tagious laugh, fond of pleasure of every kind, and, to complete 
the picture, a very fat man, who loved his leisure and his friends, 
and hated work consumedly. He is dead, too; but I often 
think of him rolling into my room on his short legs, with his 
broad face aglow, his large mouth streaming with tobacco, full 
of some quaint story, which he would relate, till every body 
roared with the merriment he always started in his explosive 
way — fairly screaming over his own fun. One of these inci- 
dents, and one of the best, was the way he charged and dis- 
persed a squadron of Mexican rancheros. I have seen a room- 
ful of celebrities enjoying this really original story, as thus told 
by my departed friend : " You will all recollect that Andy Por- 
ter's company of mounted rifles was detailed as the escort of 
the American commissioners, who were to carry the treaty of 
Guadaloupe-Hidalgo from the city of Mexico, then occupied by 
the victorious American forces, under General Winfield Scott, 
to the city of Queretaro, for ratification by the Mexican govern- 
ment, which, driven out of their capital, had taken up its quar- 



ADVENTURE IN MEXICO. 29 1 

ters in that city. Among these commissioners were Ambrose 
H. Sevier, of Arkansas, and Nathan Clifford, of Maine [at pres- 
ent a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States]. We 
had whipped the Mexicans, taken their fortresses, subdued their 
country. That magnificent empire lay at our feet. We ought 
to have gobbled it then, as we shall have to absorb it hereafter. 
The war was over, but the entire country was swept by preda- 
tory parties, and no American was safe within a few miles of the 
city of Mexico. The route from the capital to Queretaro, dis- 
tant some sixty or eighty miles, was beset by guerrillas, and the 
commissioners, with their attendants, occupying several hand- 
some coaches, drawn by fine horses, could not proceed on their 
errand without due military escort. Captain Andy Porter was, 
as I have said, in command, and I was selected as surgeon, no 
doubt because I liked him and he liked me. Before starting, 
a very fine-looking filly was set apart for me ; for you must rec- 
ollect, gentlemen, that we laid under contribution the best ani- 
mals the vicinage could afibrd. I am fond of a good horse, and 
you can imagine my displeasure when I saw the animal that 
had been assigned me was considered too light by the owner, 
who came to me, saying: 'Dr. Reyburn, you have a long jour- 
ney before you, and would not like to find your hor§e lame. I 
have, therefore, brought with me a handsome roadster, capable 
of carrying you comfortably. As I am the owner of both, and 
as you would be certain to destroy the filly by your heavy 
weight, without helping yourself, why not take the easy and safe 
roadster, and therefore subserve your own comfort and my in- 
terests?' Captivated by the candor of my friend, and not know- 
ing that his only object was selfish, and, above all, not knowing 
that the roadster, as he called it, had been an old campaigner, 
I gladly mounted him, and the cortege proceeded on its way, 
headed by Captain Porter. It was a beautiful day, and our 
course ran through a picturesque country. The commissioners 
were happy, the command in good order, the surgeon (that is 



292 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

myself) in the rear — none happier than our gallant leader, and 
none more perfectly at ease than myself. But you must rec- 
ollect, gentlemen, that I make no professions to intrepidity ; 
the fact is, I suspect I am a coward; at any rate, I always kept 
myself in the rear of my valor. In the midst of our pleasant- 
ries we heard the ring of the bugle in the front, then the quiet 
roll of drums, and now and then a dropping shot. I, of course, 
regarded this as among the pyrotechnics of the journey; but as 
the noise proceeded I felt a quick tremor of my horse, and no- 
ticed a strange movement of his ears, till at last the firing be- 
came more brisk, and the roll of the drums and the blasts of 
the bugle more frequent, when he became ungovernable, until I 
lost all control, and he burst ahead with me, past the commis- 
sioners, past the escort, past the gallant Captain Andrew Por- 
ter — when, to my horror, I found stretched across the road a 
large body of Mexicans, arms in hand, resolved to dispute our 
passage. You may well imagine my consternation, 

" ' Never having set a squadron in the field, 
Nor the division of a battle knew, 
More than a spinster !' 

Conceive my feelings when I saw myself, single-handed and 
alone, without an effort of my own, and certainly without my 
consent, facing the enemies of my country ; yet judge of my re- 
lief when, supposing me to be the advanced guard of a charging 
column, they divided on both sides of the road and fled up the 
hills, leaving our way unobstructed. I never was in the same 
danger before, and yet I can not express to you my relief at the 
escape when, drawing in my veteran charger, he having accom- 
plished his work, I quietly turned back to the escort, feeling 
somewhat like an unconscious conqueror, yet unprepared for 
the salute I received from my good Captain Andrew Porter, 
who was scarcely able to articulate between his amusement at 
my unexpected courage and his rage at the loss of a chance to 
distinguish himself. 'What, in God's name, did you mean? 



THE WAR-HORSE. 293 

Why, sir, did you dare to leave your position in the rear and 
attack the enemy in the front ? Who gave you orders to charge ? 
Are you aware that you spoiled a fine chance for my men to 
unload their muskets, and to rid the road of a set of infernal 
scoundrels who are violating the truce between two nations ?' 
' Well, sir,* was my respectful reply to my good friend Andy, 
' all I have to say in self-defense is, that you must not accuse 
me of courage; I make no pretensions to it; I am not a fight- 
ing man; I am simply Doctor Reyburn, of New Orleans; and 
if I have shown any thing like pluck on this occasion, you must 
attribute it to the infernal Mexican who was afraid to allow me 
the use of his good horse, and who put upon me an old cavalry 
charger, without giving me notice in advance that he would be 
sure to respond to the first bugle call or rouse at the first tap 
of a drum.' " You may imagine, for I can not describe, the 
effect of this story told by the genial, generous, frank-hearted 
Southerner, himself punctuating his points by his own laughter, 
and therefore awakening the merriment of all who heard him. 

[March 3, 1872.] 



LXI. 

" Most history is false, save in name and dates, while a good 
novel is generally a truthful picture of real life, false only in 
names and dates." I often think of this sensible remark of a 
veteran statesman, now in Europe, as I glance into the pages 
of some of the numberless volumes born during and since the 
rebellion. Many of their writers seem to have no other object 
than to make gods of their favorites and devils of their adversa- 
ries. Perhaps there can be no true philosophy of that tragic 
interval. Passion and prejudice have given way before judicial 
impartiality and tranquil reflection. Carlyle's "French Revo- 



294 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

lution" of 1793, one of the most remarkable of that strange 
man's productions, as wonderful for its flashes of individual 
character as for its accuracy in describing events, was made up 
from personal investigation and from a careful review of the 
journals of the day. It inspired Dickens's "Tale of Two 
Cities," one of the most grotesque and thrilling of all his crea- 
tions. Exactly such a mind is required to give us a faithful 
picture of the inner life of the rebellion. There are several 
collections of the newspapers of both sides, one that was pre- 
served for some years in the National Library, and, I think, one 
or two in New York and Boston. Add to these the letters of 
private soldiers to their families at home, thousands of which 
are laid away for reference. But who will distill the essence 
from this mass of material ? Who will digest the endless col- 
lection ? It should be a patriotic and laborious man, a stu- 
dent like Carlyle, blessed with a pleasant style, large sympa- 
thies, and a strict and conscientious sense of justice. The inci- 
dents of the war, set forth in these private letters of the soldiers 
and narrated in the newspapers, would make up not only what 
would be the best of all histories, but reading as absorbing as 
any romance. 

One of these incidents occurs to me as I write. AVhile I was 
Secretary of the Senate there was hardly an hour during any 
day that I was not called upon to help somebody who had 
friends or kindred in the army, or had business in the Depart- 
ments, or was anxious to get some poor fellow out of the Old 
Capitol Prison. These constant appeals were incessant de- 
mands upon the time of a very busy man, but the labor was a 
labor of love, and I am glad to remember that I never under- 
took it reluctantly. One day a very energetic lady called on me 
to take her to the President, and aid her to get a private soldier 
pardoned who had been sentenced to death for desertion, and 
was to be shot the very next morning. We were much pressed 
in the Senate, and she had to wait a long time before I could 



THE PARDON SIGNED. 295 

accompany her to the White House. It was late in the after- 
noon when we got there, and yet the Cabinet was still in ses- 
sion. I sent my name in to Mr. Lincoln, and he came out ev- 
idently in profound thought, and full of some great subject. I 
stated the object of our call, and, leaving the lady in one of the 
ante-chambers, returned to the Senate, which had not yet ad- 
journed. The case made a deep impression on me, but I 
forgot it in the excitement of the debate and the work of my 
office, until, perhaps, near ten o'clock that night, when my fe- 
male friend came rushing into my room, radiant with delight, 
the pardon in her hand. " I have been up there ever since," 
she said. "The Cabinet adjourned, and I sat waiting for the 
President to come out and tell me the fate of my poor soldier, 
whose case I placed in his hands after you left ; but I waited in 
vain— there was no Mr. Lincoln. So I thought I would go up 
to the door of his Cabinet chamber and knock. I did so, and, 
as there was no answer, I opened it and passed in, and there 
was the worn President asleep, with his head on the table rest- 
ing on his arms, and my boy's pardon signed by his side. I 
quietly waked him, blessed him for his good deed, and came 
here to tell you the glorious news. You have helped me to 
save a human life." 

This is the material, if not for solemn history, at least for 
those better lessons which speak to us from the lives of the just 
and the pure. 

[March 10, 1872.] 



LXIL 



Congressional debates and Departmental reports, too often 
dreary enough, are not without a large leaven of romance and 
humor. Time and patience are required, however, to winnow 



296 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the wheat from these piles of dust. It is ahnost like digging 
for gold or searching for jewels — you must endure much before 
you reach the precious deposits. The records of our former 
wars by land and sea, of the Treasury, State, Interior, Postal, 
and Law Departments, conceal an infinite variety of material, 
now utterly forgotten, and almost entirely unknown. As you 
pass through the lofty spaces of the Capitol, or the dim clois- 
ters of the executive buildings, you see aged men with busy 
pens bending over and filling large folios of this increasing 
history. If you could catch one of these veterans after hours, 
he would spare you a world of pains by gossiping through the 
avenues of his experience, not a few of which are full of the 
flowers and fragrance of a cultivated life. William L. Marcy 
used to be such a man, as, with snuff-box in hand, he sat cross- 
legged in his place as War Minister under Polk, and Foreign 
Secretary under Pierce. Robert J. Walker, vastly like that de- 
licious literary canary, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, of Boston, 
would crowd his talk with the pictures of the people he had 
known. James Buchanan was no mean delineator of the char- 
acters of the past. Mr. Seward loved to philosophize, or rather 
dogmatize, by the hour. Doubtless General Spinner, the Unit- 
ed States Treasurer, could tell you a thousand stories about the 
romance of the Greenbacks. The beloved First Auditor, Thom- 
as L. Smith, who died recently after half a century's honest 
service, wrote and spoke of departed leaders with rare facility ; 
Admiral Joseph Smith is a treasure-house of sea-legends ; Quar- 
termaster-General Meigs will relate what would fill a volume 
of his work on the extension of the Capitol, and his relations to 
the rebellion ; General David Hunter will take you back to the 
primitive days of Washington City, and repeople many of the 
old houses on Capitol Hill. The other day I called on Com- 
modore Daniel Ammen, Chief of the Bureau of Navigation and 
Detail, and asked him to tell me about the celebrated mutiny 
on board the California steamer, the Ocean Queens in May, of 



A MUTINY SUBDUED. 297 

1864. This event, though of a recent date, has been literally 
sponged from the slate of the general memory, though still pre- 
served among the records of the navy. A contingent of over 
200 men, most of them "roughs " who had served in the army, 
and had volunteered for naval service on the Pacific coast, were 
shipped for their destination on board the Ocean Quee?i, in 
charge of Commodore Ammen and a subordinate officer. 
There were over a thousand other passengers, including many 
women and children. Justice Field, of the United States Su- 
preme Court, was among the cabin passengers. The vessel 
itself was commanded by a fine old seaman. Captain Tinkle- 
paugh. On the first day out the nev/ recruits began to show 
dissatisfaction with their accommodations and food, and it was 
soon evident that, under the counsel of two or three desperate 
leaders, they were preparing to seize and rifle the steamer and 
the passengers. The Captain proposed to run into one of the 
nearest ports and get rid of the dangerous conspirators, but this 
was resisted by Commodore Ammen, who had the turbulent 
men in charge. He quietly reasoned with them, and assured 
them that, as he was responsible for their good conduct, he would 
see to their proper comfort, but that if they resorted to violence 
they would be severely punished. He was so cool and kind as 
he made this statement, that they did not think him in earnest, 
and proceeded with their plans. Their chief, Kelley, was a 
young fellow of six feet four inches, very athletic and determin- 
ed. When the first demonstration was made Commodore Am- 
men was in a distant part of the vessel, and on hearing the noise 
proceeded to the scene of action. There he found Captain 
Tinklepaugh in the hands of Kelley, who was surrounded by 
the other mutineers, all evidently under his orders, and ready to 
proceed to the worst extremities. The crisis had come, and 
Ammen, seeing that prompt action was necessary to save the 
steamer and perhaps the lives of the female passengers, drew 
his revolver and shot Kelley dead on the spot. One of his im- 

N 2 



298 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

mediate followers was killed at the same time. The effect on 
the others was instantaneous. They saw that the quiet man 
who had them in charge was resolved to enforce his authority, 
and they quailed. He then briefly addressed them, telling them 
of his determination, exhorted them to remember their duty and 
their flag, and was greeted with three hearty cheers. After 
which, under his advice, they went to their dinner. There was, 
of course, great consternation among the cabin passengers, but 
they were soon reassured by the calm demeanor of Commodore 
Ammen. His next step was to go straight among the remain- 
der of the mutineers, and to call out the leaders and put them 
in irons. One or two attempted to resist, but when they saw 
that they would soon be made to follow their dead compan- 
ions, who had by this time been sewed in canvas and cast over- 
board, they submitted. The whole affair occupied very little 
time ; and the commander, crew, and passengers were so im- 
pressed by the resolute courage of Commodore Ammen that 
they joined in a hearty commendation of his course. Justice 
Field himself addressed a strong letter to the Department in 
earnest vindication of the wisdom and energy of his action. I 
do not pretend to tell the story as it fell from Commodore Am- 
men — so modest and so clear. His printed defense before the 
court-martial, which he demanded, is a model of candor, and 
was followed by his unanimous acquittal. Had he been weak 
or impulsive, the scene would have ended in a grand tragedy, 
and perhaps hundreds of innocent persons would have perished. 
Men like Ammen, though beloved and honored in their own 
circle, and by the Government they bravely and unostentatious- 
ly serve, are rarely heard of in the great outside world ; and it 
is simple justice that they should not be wholly lost sight of in 
the loud rush and conflict of these busy times. 
[March 17, 1872.] 



EMINENT BOSTONIANS. 



LXIII. 



299 



"What constitutes a State?" is the title of one of the most 
familiar poems in the English language. I could not help think- 
ing of the constantly quoted answer during my visit to Boston 
last autumn in company with my friend Dougherty, who repeat- 
ed his fine lecture on " Oratory," at Music Hall, in that city. 
The next day Senator Sumner invited us to dine with him at a 
place called Taft's, on the ocean beach, a few miles outside of 
the town, and when we got there I found among the company 
assembled Professor Agassiz, Henry W. Longfellow, Richard H. 
Dana, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, ex-Governor Clifford, George 
S. Hilliard, Samuel Hooper, and one or two more. The dinner 
itself was a rare curiosity — thirteen courses in all, consisting of 
seven varieties of fish, taken from the neighboring waters, each 
of which was familiarly and graphically described by Professor 
Agassiz in an exceedingly interesting manner, and six courses 
of game, gathered from far and near, all of different species, ex- 
pressly stated on a written label, as they were sent in hot from 
the kitchen, and as exquisitely prepared as if they had been so 
many varieties of French cooking, and had been ushered in un- 
der French titles, so that it would have been difficult to tell 
whether the fish was not fowl, and whether the fowl was not 
something else than itself. The wines were choice, old, and 
historical, and they were thoroughly enjoyed, although with that 
moderation which always marks the gentleman at a dinner-table 
who knows the wise stop, and never forgets himself. But I do 
not desire to speak of what was to me, a plain Pennsylvanian, 
the mere novelty of the substantial of the feast, as of my pa- 
tient study of the interesting men by whom I was surrounded. 
Here was Professor Agassiz at sixty-four, looking younger than 
most men at forty-four ; Longfellow, with his streaming locks, 
revealing in a snowy framework a face of enchanting and ven- 



300 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

erable beauty; Sumner, who, to use the remark of another, al- 
ways looks like the classic statue of some great Roman ; Hooper, 
the living type of the solid men of Boston ; Richard H. Dana, 
the author of " Two Years before the Mast," keen, congenial, 
and receptive, and equally distinguished as the leader of the 
bar; Dr. Holmes, with his charming sparkle, and his endless 
and spontaneous humor. Their conversation was the flavor of 
the afternoon and evening. Unconstrained, without coarseness; 
animated, without intolerance ; if it could have been reported 
for future reading it would have furnished a precious page in 
some new " Noctes Ambrosianae." Professor Agassiz was filled 
with enthusiasm, and appeared to have realized the acme of his 
ambition in the proposed scientific trip he was soon to make 
under the auspices of our Government, and aided by the liber- 
ality of enterprising citizens of Boston. He rejoiced in the fact 
that America had taken the initiative in these important inves- 
tigations, and explained in a clear and lucid manner, devoid of 
technical phrases, the object of his mission. England had for 
many years considered the propriety of exploring the wonders 
of the deep, but it was reserved for America to carry into prac- 
tical effect a scheme that would not fail to be followed by good 
results, and which would add materially to the development of 
science. He said he proposed to survey the geography of the 
bed of the ocean. The topography of the earth had long since 
been discovered, but we were yet in darkness as to the founda- 
tion of the great waters, which is supposed to present the same 
indentations, elevations, and irregularities. All the requisite 
appliances and every conceivable comfort had been furnished 
Agassiz, a ship had been placed at his disposal, and he entered 
upon his work with all the eagerness and fervor of a young man 
just in the prime of life. The affectionate and loving passage 
between Longfellow and himself, when the former left his chair 
to bid the Professor farewell and God-speed on his long voyage, 
which commenced a few days afterward ; the skill, the learning. 



NEW ENGLAND. 30I 

and the wit displayed in the discussion of the private character 
of Franklin, by Sumner and Dana; the frank and manly inter- 
change of views on all questions affecting men and measures, 
answered the question so frequently asked in regard to Massa- 
chusetts. What is it that constitutes this great State ? What 
is it that has made New England so powerful, with her barren 
soil and inhospitable clime? Her men. Here were the off- 
spring of generations; the sons and grandsons of some of those 
who have laid deep the foundations of civil and religious liberty; 
who initiated the war of the Revolution, and fought it through 
to the end; who lighted the fires against slavery, and when slav- 
ery flew to arms were the first to rush to its overthrow ; whose 
colleges, schools, charities, municipal management, internal 
finance, and the general order, propriety, and safety of whose 
government has no parallel in the world. It is very easy to 
sneer at the habit of laudation of New England and of Massa- 
chusetts, but facts are better than fables, plain experience bet- 
ter than theory ; and as I sat in this goodly company I reverted 
to the condition of the South, that fought in the war against 
Great Britain a hundred years ago, under the leadership of men 
confessedly as great, and many of them greater than the great 
chiefs of cold New England. They were venerated every 
where; but what effect has their example had upon posterity? 
And why ? Simply because, whereas the New England founda- 
tion of schools in peace and in war produced an increasing 
popular intelligence, there has never been in the South such a 
thing as popular intelligence until, perhaps, to-day, when the 
most benighted class, elevated to freedom, is outstripping the 
ignorant minority which held it so long in slavery. But the 
lesson is capable of a more elaborate and extended notice. 

[March 24, 1872.] 



302 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



LXIV. 

Premature death is always sad. The fall of a brave, bright 
spirit, as we perhaps profanely phrase it, "before his time," 
awakens a sharper pain than when the ripe fruit drops of itself, 
or is kindly gathered in. Douglas died when millions, who 
would once have been glad of his death, prayed that he might 
live ; died when his brain would have been a treasure to his 
country. Henry Winter Davis passed away in the flush and 
prime of his usefulness. The Rupert of debate, the Rienzi of 
the people, the model of manly beauty — yet he faded out at the 
moment when he was filling the hearts and eyes of men. I 
have two or three such precious memories of my own — memo- 
ries that can never die, memories that never waken but to stir 
every fibre and to start every throb. Oh ! what a career was 
closed to them by the sudden shutting of the vital gates. How 
splendidly they were equipped for the race ! They were armed 
personally and mentally ; they loved life ; they inspired love in 
others ; they reveled in books and in society j they were fired 
by ambition. And they are gone, as utterly forgotten by the 
mass who flattered and followed them as if they had never ex- 
isted. But to me they are deathless : 

" The loveliest of their race, 
Whose grassy tombs my sorrows steep ; 
Whose worth my soul delights to trace ; 
Whose very loss 'tis sweet to weep." 

It is only a few weeks since I sat with my old friend, Simeon 
M. Johnson, at Delmonico's, in New York. Johnson was a 
rare man. He read much and remembered what he read ; he 
had seen much, and knew how to describe what he had seen 
with eloquent tongue and ready pen. He was so kind and 
genial that you felt as if he must live to a great age. There 
are some men who so entirely absorb you that when they die 



DEPARTED FRIENDS. 303 

you "can not make them dead." As with Johnson, when I 
saw that he was gone, so with our dear friend, James H. Orne, 
whom we carried into his vault one icy afternoon last Decem- 
ber ; and so, too, with William S. Huntington, whom you Wash- 
ington people are just now mourning. I can see Orne now at 
the head of his dinner-table, or in his own parlors, or on Chest- 
nut Street, or in his business — the air, the bearing, the tone of 
a gentleman ; graceful, unselfish, polite, practical, and I " can 
not make him dead." I think it was two weeks ago this very 
Sunday that I was passing by the new club house, on New York 
Avenue, Washington City, with some friends, when Mr. Hunt- 
ington saw us, came out on the steps, invited us in, showed us 
through the establishment, and asked us to enroll our names. 
He was most courteous, and, though not robust, seemed cheery 
and hopeful. He described to me his trip to St. Petersburg, 
Russia, and back ; how many days it consumed ; how much he 
had seen in his meteor flight. His face was always one of sin- 
gular interest to me ; its classic outlines indicated brain of the 
highest order ; his whole bearing was distingue. And now he is 
gone, at thirty-one. Even on the threshold of an earthly future, 
crowded with hopes and honors, he is suddenly introduced into 
the mysteries of another world. 

[March 31, 1872.] 



LXV. 

To preside over a large dinner-party is always a trying task 
to a woman. Those who recall the sparkling descriptions of 
the entertainments of Lady Blessington, by Nathaniel P. Willis, 
during his stay in London, many years ago, need not be told 
that the post is one which requires rare qualities. There is the 
necessity of knowing something of the guests, then the art of 



304 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

conversation, and, above all, easy address, refinement, and tact. 
When New York was the political capital of the United States, 
which embraced but one winter — that succeeding the formal rat- 
ification of the Constitution — President Washington's ill-health, 
the death of his mother, and other circumstances, prevented 
him from attending public balls, and Mrs. Washington had little 
inclination for such amusements, and was never present at grand 
entertainments. She was a plain, old-fashioned person, and 
rarely figured save in the subsequent Presidential receptions in 
Philadelphia, after the removal of the capital to that city. 

Mrs. John Adams, wife of the second President, removed 
while her husband was Vice-President from Boston to Philadel- 
phia to her new residence at Bush Hill, which she describes as 
a very beautiful place. She was fond of the theatre, having 
acquired the taste during her sojourn in Paris. " She was not 
without tenderness, and womanly, but her distinction was a 
masculine understanding, energy, and decision, fitting her for 
the bravest or most delicate periods of affairs, and in an eminent 
degree for that domestic relation which continued unbroken 
through so many changeful years, herself unchangeful — always 
making her own lot a portion of her husband's, in a manner 
that illustrates the noblest ideas that we have of marriage." 
She remained in Paris and London four years, and was forty- 
five when summoned to America by the election of her husband 
to the office of Vice-President. She was very intimate with 
Martha Jefierson, Thomas Jefferson's daughter, who had been 
intrusted to her care in Paris, and spoke of her as a young wo- 
man of uncommon delicacy and sensibility. 

Mr. Jefferson kept a liberal table for his friends, but there is 
little note of the ladies who figured at his dinners. He was a 
widower when he entered the Presidency. He married Martha 
Skelton, the widow of Bathhurst Skelton, of Virginia, and daugh- 
ter of John Wayles. The marriage took place at "The Forest," 
in Charles County. The bride v/as left a widow when very 



MRS. MARTHA JEFFERSON. 305 

young, and was only twenty-three when she married Mr. Jeffer- 
son. She is described as having been very beautiful, a little 
above the middle height, with a lithe and exquisitely formed 
figure. She was well educated for her day, and a constant 
reader ; inheriting from her father method and industry, as the 
accounts kept in her clear handwriting, still in the possession of 
her descendants, testify. Several other prominent men aspired 
to her hand, but Jefferson carried off the prize. She did not sur- 
vive to enjoy the brilliant career of her husband, but died on the 
6th of September, 1782, after the birth of her sixth child, leaving 
three female children. Jefferson wrote the following epitaph for 

his wife's tomb : 

*' To the memory of 

iHartl)a 3 cffcxQon, 

Daughter of John Wayles ; 

Born October 19, 1748, O. S. ; 

Intermarried with Thomas Jefferson, January i, 1772; 

Torn from him by death, Septemper 6, 1782, 

This monument of his love is inscribed. 



'* * If in the melancholy shades below 

The flames of friends and lovers cease to glow, 
Yet mine shall sacred last ; mine undecayed, 
Burn on through death, and animate my shade.' " 

These four lines Mr. Jefferson left in the Greek in the orig- 
inal epitaph. There is a photograph from a portrait by Sully 
in "The Domestic Life of Jefferson," compiled from family let- 
ters and reminiscences by his great-granddaughter, Sarah N. 
Randolph, of Virginia, which fully confirms the above descrip- 
tion. 

Mr. Jefferson thought it becoming a Republican that his in- 
auguration should be as unostentatious and free from display 
as possible ; and such it was. An English traveler, who was in 
Washington at the time, thus describes him : " His dress was 
of plain cloth, and he rode on horseback to the Capitol without 
a single guard, or even servant, in his train, dismounted without 



3o6 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

assistance, and hitched the bridle of his horse to the palisades." 
He was accompanied to the Senate Chamber by a number of 
his friends, where, before taking the oath of office, he delivered 
his inaugural address, whose chaste and simple beauty is so fa- 
miliar to the student of American history. 

Congress opened December 7, 1801. It had been the cus- 
tom for the session to be opened pretty much as the English 
Parliament is by the Queen's speech. The President, accom- 
panied by a cavalcade, proceeded in state to the Capitol, took 
his seat in the Senate Chamber, and, the House of Representa- 
tives being summoned, he read his address. Mr. Jefferson, 
however, on the opening of this session of Congress (1801), 
swept away all these inconvenient forms and ceremonies by in- 
troducing the custom of the President reading a written mes- 
sage to Congress. Soon after his inauguration he did away 
with levees, and established only two public days for the recep- 
tion of company, the first of January and the Fourth of July, 
when his doors were thrown open to the public. He received 
private calls, whether of courtesy or on business, at all other 
times. 

We have had preserved to us by his great-granddaughter an 
amusing anecdote of the effect of abolishing levees. Many of 
the ladies of Washington, indignant at being cut off from the 
pleasure of attending them, and thinking that their discontinu- 
ance was an innovation on former customs, determined to force 
the President to hold them. Accordingly, on the usual levee 
day, they resorted in full force to the White House. The Pres- 
ident was out taking his habitual ride on horseback. On his 
return, being told that the public rooms were filled with ladies, 
he at once divined their true motives for coming on that day. 
Without being at all disconcerted, all booted and spurred, and 
still covered with the dust of his ride, he went in to receive his 
fair guests. Never had his reception been more graceful or 
courteous. The ladies, charmed with the ease and grace of his 



MRS. MADISON. 307 

manners and address, forgot their indignation with him, and 
went away, feeling that, of the two parties, they had shown most 
impoHteness in visiting his house when not expected. The re- 
sult of their plot was for a long time a subject of mirth among 
them, and they never again attempted to infringe upon the rules 
of his household. 

Madison succeeded Jefferson as President, and his wife, Dolly 
Payne, the Quakeress, is still remembered by surviving states- 
men like Reverdy Johnson and Horace Binney. She was born 
in North Carolina, but had been educated under the strictest 
rules of the Friends of Philadelphia, where, at an early age, she 
married a young lawyer of this sect named Todd; but when 
she became a widow she threw off drab silks and plain laces, 
and was for several years one of the gayest and most attractive 
women in the city. She had many lovers, but she gave the 
preference to young Madison, whose wife she became in 1794. 
To this day there are anecdotes told of her peculiar fascinations 
in Washington City, and especially at dinner-parties and recep- 
tions. Mrs. Stephen A. Douglas (now Mrs. General Williams) 
is one of her descendants. She made a jolly and happy social 
administration. One of Mrs. Seaton's letters graphically de- 
scribes a dinner at the President's, and a naval ball, under date 
of November 12, 1812 : 

"On Tuesday, William and I repaired to 'the place' between 
four and five o'clock, our carriage setting us down after the 
first comers and before the last. It is customary, on whatever 
occasion, to advance to the upper end of the room, pay your 
obeisance to Mrs. Madison, courtesy to his Highness, and take 
a seat ; after this ceremony, being at liberty to speak to ac- 
quaintances, or amuse yourself as at another party. The party 
already assembled consisted of the Treasurer of the United 
States; Mr. Russell, the American Minister to England; Mr. 
Cutts, brother-in-law of Mrs. Madison ; General Van Ness and 
family ; General Smith and daughter, from New York ; Pat- 



3o8 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

rick Magruder's family; Colonel Goodwine and daughter; Mr. 
Coles, the Private Secretary ; Washington Irving, the author 
of ' Knickerbocker ' and ' Salmagundi ;' Mr. Thomas, an Eu- 
ropean ; Mr. Poindexter ; William R. King, and two other gen- 
tlemen ; and these, with Mr. and Mrs. Madison, and Payne 
Todd, her son, completed the select company. 

" Mrs. Madison very handsomely came to me and led me 
nearest the fire, introduced Mrs. Magruder, and sat down be- 
tween us, politely conversing on familiar subjects, and by her 
own ease of manner making her guests feel at home. Mr. King 
came to our side, sans ceremonie, and gayly chatted with us until 
dinner was announced. Mrs. Magruder, by a priority of age, 
was entitled to the right hand of her hostess, and I, in virtue of 
being a stranger, to the next seat, Mr. Russell to her left, Mr. 
Coles at the foot of the table, the President in the middle, which 
relieves him from the trouble of receiving guests, drinking wine, 
etc. The dinner was certainly very fine, but still I was rather 
surprised, as it did not surpass some I have eaten in Carolina. 
There were many French dishes, and exquisite wines, I pre- 
sume, by the praises bestowed on them ; but I have been so 
little accustomed to drink that I could not discern the differ- 
ence between sherry and rare old Burgundy madeira. Com- 
ment on the quality of the wine seems to form the chief topic 
after the removal of the cloth and during the dessert, at which, 
by -the -way, no pastry is countenanced. Ice-creams, maca- 
roons, preserves, and various cakes are placed on the table, 
which are removed for almonds, raisins, pecan -nuts, apples, 
pears, etc. Candies were introduced before the ladies left the 
table ; and the gentlemen continued half an hour longer to 
drink a social glass. Meantime Mrs. Madison insisted on my 
playing on her elegant grand piano a waltz for Miss Smith and 
Miss Magruder to dance, the figure of which she instructed 
them in. By this time the gentlemen came in, and we ad- 
journed to the tea-room ; and here, in the most delightful man- 



MRS. MADISON. 309 

ner imaginable, I shared with Mrs. Smith, who is remarkably in- 
telligent, the pleasure of Mrs. Madison's conversation on books, 
men and manners, literatm-e in general, and many special 
branches of knowledge. I never spent a more rational or pleas- 
ing half-hour than that which preceded our return home. On 
paying our compliments at parting we were politely invited to 
attend the levee the next evening. I would describe the dig- 
nified appearance of Mrs. Madison, but I fear it is the woman 
altogether whom I should wish you to see. She wears a crim- 
son cap that almost hides her forehead, but which becomes her 
extremely, and reminds one of a crown from its brilliant ap- 
pearance, contrasted with the white satin folds and her jet-black 
curls; but her demeanor is so far removed from the hauteur 
generally attendant on royalty that your fancy can carry the re- 
semblance no further than the head-dress. In a conspicuous 
position every fault is rendered more discernible to common 
eyes, and more liable to censure ; and the same rule certainly 
enables every virtue to shine with more brilliancy than when 
confined to an inferior station in society. But I — and I am by 
no means singular in the opinion — believe that Mrs. Madison's 
conduct would be graced by propriety were she placed in the 
most adverse circumstances in life. 

" Mr. Madison has no leisure for the ladies, for every moment 
of his time is engrossed by the crowd of male visitors who court 
his notice; and, after passing the first complimentary saluta- 
tions, his attention is unavoidably withdrawn to more important 
objects. Some days ago invitations were issued to two or three 
hundred ladies and gentlemen to dine and spend the day with 
Colonel Wharton and Captain Stewart, on board the Constel- 
lation^ an immense ship of war. This, of all the sights I have 
ever witnessed, was the most interesting, grand, and novel. 
William, Joseph R., and I went together, and as the vessel lay 
in the stream off the point, there were several beautiful little 
yachts to convey the guests to the scene of festivity. On reach- 



310 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

ing the deck we were ushered immediately under the awning, 
composed of many flags, and found ourselves in the presence 
of hundreds of ladies and gentlemen. The effect was astonish- 
ing — every color of the rainbow, every form and fashion ; nature 
and art ransacked to furnish gay and suitable habihments for 
the belles, who, with the beaux, in their court dresses, were 
gayly dancing to the inspiring strains of a magnificent band. 
The ladies had assured youth and beauty in their persons, taste 
and splendor in their dress. Thousands of dollars were ex- 
pended by the dashing fair ones in jDreparation for thisy?/^. 

" At the upper end of the quarter-deck sat Mrs. Madison, to 
whom we paid our respects, and then participated in the con- 
versation and amusements with our friends, among whom were 
Mrs. Monroe, Mrs. Gallatin, etc. 

" It is customary to breakfast at nine o'clock, dine at four, and 
drink tea at eight, which division of time I do not like, but am 
compelled to submit. I am more surprised at the method of 
taking tea here than any other meal. In private families, if 
you step in of an evening, they give you tea and crackers or 
cold bread, and if by invitation, unless the party is very splen- 
did, you have a few sweet cakes and macaroons from the con- 
fectioner's. Once I saw a ceremony of preserves at tea, but 
the deficiency is made up by the style at dinner, with extrava- 
gant wines, etc. Pastry and puddings going out of date, and 
wine and ice-cream coming in, does not suit my taste, and I 
confess to preferring Raleigh hospitality. I have never even 
heard of warm bread at breakfast. 

" On Thursday last was the grand naval bill, given in honor 
of Captains Hull, Morris, and Stewart, of which I must say a 
few words. =* * * The assembly was croM'ded with a more than 
usual portion of the youth and beauty of the city, and was the 
scene of an unprecedented event — two British flags unfurled 
and hung as trophies in an American assembly by American 
sailors. lo triiimphe I Before we started, our house had been 



MRS. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, 3II 

illuminated in token of our cheerful accordance with the general 
joy which pervaded the city, manifested by nearly every window 
being more or less lighted. This was inspiring, and calculated 
to give every patriot and old officer in Washington an inclina- 
tion to join in the festivities of an event devoted to the pleasing 
task of paying homage to the bravery and politeness of the 
naval heroes." 

James Monroe, who succeeded with his " era of good feel- 
ing," did not follow the free-and-easy reunions, parties, balls, and 
dinners, under the auspices of Mrs. Madison, who saw every 
body, visited every where, and allowed no distinction of sect or 
party. John Quincy Adams, Mr. Monroe's Secretary of State, 
drew up a severe series of rules of etiquette, which gave great 
offense. But when the President's daughter, Maria, was mar- 
ried to her cousin, Sam Gouverneur, of New York, she had quite 
a reception at the Presidential Mansion, Mrs. Monroe, her 
mother, yielding the post of honor to the bride, and mingling 
with the other guests. There was a grand birthnight ball at 
Washington on the 22d of February, 1821, at which the con- 
trast between the plain attire of President Monroe and John 
Quincy Adams and the splendid costumes and decorations of 
the foreign legations was much remarked. They had a hand- 
some foreigner present in the person of the new British Minis- 
ter, Mr. Stratford Canning, cousin of George Canning, afterward 
the celebrated Viscount Stratford de Redcliffe. 

Of course, the administration of John Quincy Adams was 
rather austere. His wife, Mrs. Louisa C. Adams, was a lady of 
high literary tastes and great precision ; and it is not going too 
far to say that their only son, the present Charles Francis Adams, 
owes almost as much to her care and attention to his manners 
and education as to his myriad-minded, indefatigable, and illus- 
trious father. They succeeded Monroe, a man of peace with a 
peaceful administration, and they had a hot and violent time of 
it for four years. John Randolph openly charged Henry Clay 



312 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

with having traded off the vote of Kentucky for a place in the 
Adams Cabinet, and George Kremer cried aloud and spared 
not. Andrew Jackson felt that he had lost the glittering prize, 
and took a lofty and imperious tone. This was not a time for 
poor Mrs. Adams to show her social points, however graceful 
and numerous. 

Mrs. Andrew Jackson seldom appeared at receptions and 
other public entertainments. She was a plain, domestic wom- 
an, little accustomed to society and devoted to her husband, 
who, in turn, showed her the utmost affection. The account of 
her burial, by Henry A. Wise, in his book lately published, is 
one of the most striking illustrations of Old Hickory's private 
character. The first lady of the White House I ever saw was 
Mrs. James K. Polk, in 1846. She presided at all the state 
dinners, and was the queen of her own social circle ; a woman 
of striking presence, stately and tall, perhaps a little too formal 
and cold, yet not the less an ornament and an example. Mrs. 
President Pierce was in such ill-health as rarely to be seen save 
on her evenings with ladies. Amiable, gentle, and long-suffering, 
she filled the picture of a good woman, and nothing in her hus- 
band's character stands more to his credit than his devotion to 
her during her painful invalid years. Miss Harriet Lane was 
the most accomplished young mistress of the Presidential Man- 
sion of modern times. She was a valuable auxiliary to her 
uncle, the bachelor President, and did much to assuage the 
asperities of his unfortunate administration. Mrs. Lincoln was 
always present with her husband at public dinners and recep- 
tions, conversed freely, and took pleasure in introducing the 
wives and daughters of members of Congress. Mrs. A. John- 
son was rarely seen on great occasions, but was beloved by all 
who knew her. Of Mrs. Grant, the present lady of the White 
House, it only needs to be said that she sustains her delicate 
position with quiet dignity, and is never more interesting than 
when surrounded by her little family in the evening, with Mr. 



CALIFORNIA ANNEXED. 313 

Dent, her aged father, at her side. What are now known as 
great state dinners do not severely tax the hostess. The guests 
are so arranged that each lady is only called on to converse 
with her next neighbor, and thus an agreeable evening is passed 
and many pleasant acquaintances formed. The President is 
seated opposite Mrs. Grant, about the middle of the table, gen- 
erally between two of the loveliest or most distinguished ladies, 
while Mrs. Grant is flanked by the two most eminent men, for- 
eigners or natives, among the company. At the President's 
private dinners the same order is preserved, only that there is 
less restraint, and more of the freedom of the family. 

In that delightful book, " Sir Henry Holland's Recollections," 
just published, there is a sketch of one of the famous leaders 
of British society. Lady Holland, which shows what peculiar 
qualities were required when the wife, so to speak, is empress 
of the household. Like Lady Biessington, Lady Holland is a 
historical character, and if there are any who resemble her in 
these days they have not perhaps the same opportunities for 
display and distinction. 

[April 7, 1872.3 



LXVL 

An attack upon the policy of the Mexican war and the an- 
nexation of Texas always disposes me to direct attention to the 
results of the conquest or purchase of California and the open- 
ing of our way to the Pacific on the thirty-second parallel. 
When Robert J. Walker, who was perhaps the most active en- 
gineer of the annexation scheme, wrote his celebrated letter in 
its favor, he pleaded with prophetic ken for its effect on the 
whole country. The future vindicated his views, and gave him 
an opportunity to resist, on a broader field and with resplendent 

O 



314 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

disinterestedness, the efforts of the Disunionists to use their 
new advantages for the overthrow of the Government. The 
slaveholders gave quick and earnest support to the Texas pro- 
gramme, and they sent their best material into the war against 
Mexico, but they soon realized that freedom could spread as 
well as slavery, and that the more it was distributed the stronger 
it was. They met a fearful fall when they tried to divide Cali- 
fornia in 1850, so as to reserve half of it for the peculiar institu- 
tion; and they were still more disappointed v;hen California re- 
fused to follow them in their spoliation of Kansas in 1855, '56, 
'57 ; and later still, in 1861, '62, when the Pacific State, set apart 
as an outlying fortress of slavery, became one of the chief bul- 
warks of the Union. 

But I did not sit down to write politics, or to show how Provi- 
dence overthrows the best-laid plans of ambitious men, but to 
restore to the memory of my readers some of those who figured 
in the early days of California. These were all in the prime 
of life, most of them young, and all of them seeking their for- 
tunes. They came from various sections. Young Fremont, 
who in his twenty-seventh year explored the South Pass, and 
afterward penetrated to the Rocky Mountains and the Great 
Salt Lakes, and still later unfolded Alta California, the Sierra 
Nevada, the valleys of the San Joaquin and the Sacramento, 
was the first United States Senator after the war and the ratifi- 
cation of the treaty of Guadaloupe-Hidalgo. This was in 1850, 
when he was thirty-six years old. I remember him well, his 
quiet manners and his youthful figure. His colleague, Dr. Wil- 
liam M. Gwin, of Mississippi, who had grown to be a veteran in 
the bitter conflicts of the South, where he had held any number 
of jDlaces, emigrated to California, like the rest, to better his 
condition, and was made a Senator in Congress in 1850 for six 
years. He was then just forty-five, full of vigor, resources, busy, 
continuous, and resolute, not over-scrupulous, and intensely am- 
bitious. His wife was exactly the mate for such a man ; fash- 



CALIFORNIAN REPRESENTATIVES. 315 

ionable, liberal, dashing, generous, and full of Southern partiali- 
ties. Their house was as hospitable as plenty of money and 
pleasant people could make it. George H. Wright was then a 
Representative in the House in 1850-51. He is now a resi- 
dent of Washington, and a sound Republican. In 1852 Milton 
S. Latham came to Washington as a Representative from Cali- 
fornia. He was just twenty-five when he took his seat — a hand- 
some boy, who, after a short career in Alabama, had emigrated, 
in his twenty-third year, to the Golden State. He was modest 
and graceful, made a good sophomore speech, was never violent, 
and soon conciliated great favor. Few men have enjoyed more 
of the world's smiles and favors, and few deserved them more 
than this young man. He was clerk of the Recorder's Court 
of San Francisco in 1850, district attorney in 185 1, Representa- 
tive in Congress in 1852, and declined a re-election; was Col- 
lector of the Port of San Francisco in 1855, elected Governor 
of California in i860, and three days after his inauguration 
chosen a Senator in Congress for six years. He was always 
moderate in his politics, though a Democrat; liked Douglas and 
Breckinridge ; was a close friend of Andy Johnson, and never 
"fell out," I believe, with Hotspur Wigfall or dogmatic Toombs. 
He was even and genial to all; had no angular points, and 
made money with the ease of a fortune's favorite. He is now 
living at San Francisco, a millionaire at forty-five, having had 
an experience of a quarter of a century unusual in any man's 
history, with perhaps as many years before him in which to in- 
crease and enjoy his large possessions. Of a widely different 
type was E. C. Marshall, who went forth from Kentucky to Cali- 
fornia about the same time, and sat in the House with Latham 
as his colleague. He was a genius ; impetuous, blind, reck- 
less ; a true scion of a gifted and eccentric race. Some of his 
speeches were gems ; but he had no system, and wasted his gifts 
lavishly, while the more prudent Latham carefully garnered and 
added to his. Then came the big-brained James A. McDougall, 



3l6 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

born in New York, thence removing to Illinois, and in 1850 
settling down in California, where, after other service, he was 
chosen to succeed Latham in the House. What a handsome 
fellow he was in 1853, in his thirty-seventh year, and how he 
flamed in debate ! He ought to be living to-day, and would be 
if he had been a little less selfish. John B. Weller, of Ohio, trans- 
planted himself to California in the exodus of 1846, succeeded 
Fremont in the Senate in 185 1, and was afterward Governor of 
the State. He is, I believe, still living in California. Thomas 
J. Henly, of Indiana, belonged to the same emigration. He 
made the longest and best stump speeches I ever heard, and 
could hold a crowd together for four hours at a stretch. Brod- 
erick, "the noblest Roman of them all," was, I think, in the 
mines as early as 1845. He fled from New York and its deg- 
radations, and dug for a living in the gulches; but he was 
soon called forth to lead in the formation of the constitution of 
the new State, and to sit in and preside over the State Senate. 
Chosen a Senator in Congress in 1856, and refusing to sanction 
the treachery of Buchanan on the Kansas question, he was kill- 
ed in a duel by a Southern Secessionist in September of 1859. 
John Conness, one of the disciples of Broderick, was one of the 
first emigrants to California, and served in various public posi- 
tions till he was chosen a Senator in Congress in 1863. 

The gold discovery, following directly after the conquest of 
California, stimulated the rush from the old States, North and 
South. That revelation made the ancient Spanish settlement 
the seat of a new American empire. It seemed a providential 
sequel to a great national event; and you will note how the 
men I have named were moulded and mastered in the develop- 
ments of the times. Every one of them left home a pro-slavery 
Democrat, with the exception of General Fremont; and they 
were either forced into sympathy with the rebellion, and with 
its collapse closed their political career, or took bold ground 
against the rebellion, and so live in the gratitude of posterity. 



DANIEL E. SICKLES. 317 

California is no longer an outpost of slavery or Democracy. 
New men have succeeded the pioneers ; men like Cole, Sargent, 
and Lowe. The bad influence that ruled the State has passed 
away. The old, slow ocean passage has yielded to the genius 
of the rail. Continents make treaties by telegraph and inter- 
change commodities by steam. Distant nations are made neigh- 
bors, and thoughts that could only be spoken or written for a 
few, twenty years ago, fly in an instant into millions of minds in 
the remotest regions. The ideas of Broderick and Baker and 
Starr King survive the evil sophistries of Gwin and Weller, and 
leaven the whole mass of dogmas that came so near losing for 
us a country. 

[April 14, 1872.] 



LXVII. 

In 1853, when President Pierce nominated James Buchanan 
as Minister to England, the Senate was on the point of adjourn- 
ing without confirming the Pennsylvania statesman, and he 
positively refused to accept unless he was confirmed. Hon. 
Richard Brodhead, a Senator in Congress from Pennsylvania, 
since deceased, was an opponent of Buchanan, and it was diffi- 
cult to secure his vote for the new Minister ; but Mr. Marcy, 
Secretary of State, and the President, finally succeeded in con- 
ciliating him, and J. B. was put through, and began to prepare 
for his mission. His first solicitude was to secure a competent 
Secretary of Legation, and he asked me if I had any such per- 
son in view. I said I had not; knowing that Mr. Buchanan 
was not easy to please in such matters, and believing that in 
the choice of his confidential assistant he ought to act for him- 
self Shortly after this conversation, however, I visited New 
York, and met a gentleman whose talents and address seemed 



3l8 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

to fit him for the post. This was the present General Daniel 
E. Sickles, then the prominent young leader of the Democracy 
of the Empire State. He was in his thirty-fourth year,, in the 
flush of a full practice at the bar, and in the receipt of a large 
income at the head of the law department of the city. I said 
to him one day, " How would you like to be Secretary of Le- 
gation under Mr. Buchanan, the new Minister to London ?" 
"What's the pay?" "Twenty-five hundred dollars a year." 
" Why, bless you, my dear fellow, that would hardly pay for my 
wine and cigars. My annual income is fifteen times more than 
that ; I could not think of such a sacrifice." But the next day 
he thought better of it. A year or two at the British Court, 
with opportunities to see Paris and the Continent, began to be 
attractive to him, and he said he would give up his splendid 
business for the time and go. He had never seen Mr. Buchan- 
an, and the latter only knew him as a brilliant lawyer, politi- 
cian, and man of the world, who had a host of friends and not 
a few enemies, like all men of force and originality. I wrote 
to Wheatland, announcing that Mr. Sickles would accept the 
post, and that he would call on him in a day or two. The vet- 
eran statesman was most favorably impressed, and nominated 
Sickles as his Secretary of Legation. Sickles did not belong 
to the Marcy wing of the party in New York, and the ancient 
Secretary of State stoutly objected to his appointment ; but Gen- 
eral Pierce interposed, and the new Secretary of Legation got 
his commission. I was, of course, anxious to know how the 
bright and daring youngster got on with the staid old bachelor, 
and at last I heard from the latter something like this : " Your 
Secretary of Legation is a pleasant companion, but he writes a 
very bad hand, and spends a great deal of money." And 
again : " Sickles writes as bad a hand as you do, but I find him 
a very able lawyer, and of great use to me." They got on very 
well, though not without some amusing experiences. One is 
worth referring to, and I wish my readers could hear General 



AN ENGLISH TAVERN-BILL. 319 

Sickles tell it in his own inimitable way. The American lega- 
tion, including the ladies, were invited to dine with a person of 
high rank, a duchess, residing near London, and they proceed- 
ed in their carriages to her residence. Their coachmen and 
other attendants, under the direction of General Sickles, drove 
back to the little inn hard by, to feed their horses and take care 
of themselves till the hour for the return of the party ; and the 
young secretary told them to have " a good time." On the re- 
turn of the legation Mr. Buchanan ordered the carriages to stop 
at the English inn, that he might pay the bill of mine host, who 
soon appeared with his " little claim." It was a startling array 
of charges for all sorts of delicacies, including a full English 
dinner, with " the materials," and amounted to five pounds, or 
$25. " Five pounds !" exclaimed Old Buck in amazement; "I 
never heard of such a thing in all my life." " Let me pay the 
bill," said Sickles, in his cool way; "I told the boys to enjoy 
themselves, and I am to blame." " No, sir," was the severe re- 
ply, " I will pay it myself, and will keep it as a souvenir of En- 
glish extortion and of your economy. Why, my dear sir, do you 
know I could have got just as good a dinner for twenty-five 
cents apiece at John Michael's, sign of 'The Grapes,' in my own 
town of Lancaster, as this man has charged a pound a head 
for ? No, sir ; I will keep this bill as a curiosity of its kind, an 
autograph worthy of historical mention." The incident marked 
the difference between the men — the open-hearted generosity 
of the Secretary and the exact business habits of the Minister. 
Some men crowd a year into a month ; others vegetate in 
aimless and eventless routine. Some give a life to the collec- 
tion of coins and insects ; others are happy in the study of old 
pictures, or busy themselves in figuring how to pay off the na- 
tional debt, or lose themselves in vainly seeking for perpetual 
motion ; and one of the best I know spends most of his days in 
collecting autographs, and especially in filling books with the 
original letters and photographs of certain characters, so that 



320 



ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



when he dies he may be remembered as the owner and com- 
piler of volumes of which there can be no copies or duplicates. 

But here is one still in his prime — he was fifty last October — 
whose career has been as diversified and romantic as if he had 
filled out a full century of endless action. He was a printer 
before he read law j was a member of the New York Assembly 
when he was twenty-six ; a State Senator when he was thirty-five : 
then Secretary of Legation at London, where he met and min- 
gled with the best minds; afterward two terms in Congress; an 
early volunteer against the rebellion, losing his leg at Gettysburg 
in 1863 ; then one of the chief agents as Military Governor in the 
reconstruction of North and South Carolina ; and now Ameri- 
can Minister to the Spanish Court. I do not refer to the sad- 
dest page of his experience save to prove that he has outlived 
it, nor yet to his intermediate labors as orator, journalist, advo- 
cate, and counselor. He is what one might call a lawyer by 
intuition; careful in reaching his conclusions, but quick and 
bold in pushing them ; as a, speaker, incisive, clear, and logical ; 
as a controversialist, cool and wary. His recent coup d'etat 
against the Erie ring would alone make any man famous. Few 
characters in our country, or in our history, have passed through 
so many ordeals. Tried for his life, hunted by fierce and des- 
perate foes, tabooed under a relentless though temporary ostra- 
cism, periling his life in battle, and saving it only at the cost 
of a fearful mutilation, he survives to teach to his countrymen 
the lesson beautifully set forth in his speech on the 2d of Octo- 
ber, 1868, from the portico of the Union League of Philadel- 
phia, and now most worthy of reproduction : 

" I see thousands and thousands of men, formerly of the 
Democratic party, who have determined no longer to be ruled 
by it ; and if the Democratic party determine not to see the fut- 
ure that shall lead them to a better course, the Union party of 
this country will illumine the path that will lead them to a bet- 
ter conclusion. No disloyal party can ever gain control of this 



TIME'S CHANGES. 32 I 

country. As well might George III. again stretch his long hand 
to seize the starry coronet of the Colonies ; as well might the 
Mohawks, the Cherokees, and the Mohicans claim again their 
lost hunting-grounds, or attempt to drive back civilization to 
the sea, as that old slave dynasty ever again attempt to resume 
sway in this land of justice and loyalty." 

[April 21, 1872.] 



LXVIII. 

Congressional habits and manners have changed with the 
times, and the change is marvelous. In fact, social life at the 
nation's capital has itself been revolutionized. If you look 
down from the galleries of the two houses, or step into the old 
Senate Chamber, now the Supreme Court-room, you will see 
how thorough is the revolution. Colored men in Congress, 
colored men before the highest judicial tribunal, also colored 
men in the local courts, deliberate and practice without insult 
or interruption. In 1857-58 a white man could not safely ad- 
vocate ordinary justice to a black man. He was subjected to 
inconceivable obloquy, not alone in the Legislatures, but in 
society. Nothing but illustrious services or great moral cour- 
age secured decent toleration to such an offender. The South- 
ern leaders were models of politeness till their peculiar institu- 
tion was touched. Then the mask was dropped, and arrogance 
expelled all courtesy. Nobody who did not agree with them 
was invited to their houses, and, as they controlled the Admin- 
istration, of whatever party, the few anti-slavery men had to live 
among themselves. Now all is changed. Men meet together 
and discuss politics like philosophers. Go to one of Fernando 
Wood's great parties, and you find people of all opinions. Look 
in upon one of Charles Sumner's unequaled dinners, and you 

O 2 



322 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

see him surrounded with Democrats Hke Thurman, of Ohio, and 
Casserly, of California. Call on brave Ben Butler at one of his 
receptions, and note among his guests many whom he has most 
steadily antagonized. When Thaddeus Stevens lived, his most 
intimate companion at whist and euchre was the venerable 
John Law, the distinguished Democrat from the Indianapolis 
district. But in nothing is the change more marked than in the 
manners of the two houses. First is the evident absence of 
public dissipation — that fruitful source of evil during the old 
slave regime. You do not see men inflamed by bad whisky 
seeking quarrels with their associates. The night is no longer 
made hideous by personal altercations. The bowie-knife, the 
pistol, the bludgeon, lie buried in the grave with secession and 
State rights. There are lively disputes, of course ; Butler and 
Sunset Cox indulge in an occasional passage; Schurz and Car- 
penter exchange repartee; and now and then Mr.Vorhees flies 
his eagles with angry and fervid declamation ; but there are no 
hostile messages, no clandestine consultations, no summonses 
to Bladensburg or Canada. The shots that are fired are harm- 
less; the swords are air-drawn; the fierce charges explode in 
fruitless investigations. A colored member is listened to by 
respectful houses, and silent if not responsive auditors ; and the 
extremest Democrat, even from the South, yields a hearing and 
a reply to a man like Benjamin Sterling Turner, the Represent- 
ative in Congress from Selma, Alabama, who was born a slave 
and is now a freeman. How wonderful is the decay of prej- 
udices that seemed to be eternal ! Is this the Capitol in 
which Sumner fell under the blows of Brooks ? From which 
John Quincy Adams was sought to be expelled for words spoken 
in debate ? In which Toombs thundered, Keitt lightninged, and 
Wigfall threatened ? 

And as I turn from this profound lesson, and look over the 
fair city as it stretches before me from the west windows of the 
Congressional Library — in which I notice colored men and 



NATIONAL CONVENTIONS. 323 

women reading in the quiet alcoves — I find other and even 
better manners. Cars traversing streets as clean as those of 
Paris in her best days, and carrying both races without protest, 
even from the delicate ex-rebel ladies who are coming back to 
us on their silken wings, ready to sell guns or carry claims, as 
opportunity offers ; the same schools for the education of black 
and white; colleges for the education of the freedmen; a great 
savings bank, in which the millions of former slaves are hoarded 
and increased; and, above all, a free press, that prints words 
and distributes thoughts which three years ago would have 
raised a mob and swung the writer to the lamp-post in front of 
his burning dwelling. And this social, political, and intellect- 
ual revolution is vindicated by results, which, like the glorious 
works of nature, give joy to all and real sorrow to none. The 
flowers and verdure of early spring, that bloom and grow all 
around us, are not more truly the proofs of the providence of 
God than all these changed manners at the nation's capital. 

[April 28, 1872.] 



LXIX. 

A National Convention of delegates representing one of 
the great political parties of a Republic like ours, called to nom- 
inate a candidate for President, is always interesting. No other 
country presents such a spectacle. The best ability is assem- 
bled. The sages and statesmen and the young men of the 
party take part in the deliberations, which are frequently inter- 
rupted by high excitement, and made historical by electrical dis- 
plays of oratory. The vindication by Judge Holt, of Kentucky, 
of the character of Richard M.Johnson in the National Conven- 
tion at Baltimore, thirty-six years ago, was a magnificent burst 
of eloquence. I read it in Greeley's Netv -Yorker^ of that day. 



324 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

which spoke of it as a gem of finished rhetoric. The white- 
haired statesman who rides along Pennsylvania Avenue every 
morning, on his way to the office of the Judge Advocate-Gen- 
eral, is the same Joseph Holt whose youthful appearance and 
splendid argument thrilled the people in 1836. W.L.Yancey, 
of Alabama, was another of the bright lights of the Democratic 
National Convention, and was a captivating speaker, and, like 
most of the school of extreme Southerners, exceedingly courte- 
ous and refined. Never shall I forget the debate between Ben- 
jamin F.Butler, Mr. Van Buren's ex- Attorney-General, and Rob- 
ert J. Walker, Senator in Congress from Mississippi, in the con- 
vention of 1844, on the two-thirds rule. Van Buren, defeated 
in 1840 by Harrison, was again a candidate for the nomination, 
but he had faltered on the annexation of Texas, and, though he 
had a clear majority of the delegates, the adoption of the two- 
thirds rule ruined his prospects. Butler was no match for the 
keen little Senatorial Saladin; and when he rose to reply the 
House had already been conquered by the logic of his adver- 
sary. That convention was James Buchanan's first appearance 
as an aspirant for President, and had he remained in the field 
he would assuredly have been the candidate against Mr. Clay. 
Polk was an accidental selection, and was never dreamed of 
till the conflict made a compromise necessary. In 1848 Van 
Buren's men took ample revenge by running him as a volunteer 
candidate for President, and so defeating Cass and electing 
Taylor. Buchanan's adherents were on the ground, but he had 
contrived to lose the friendship of many of the leading men of 
Pennsylvania, and was coldly jostled ofi" the track. In that 
convention Preston King was the Van Buren leader, backed by 
David Wilmot, and when New York seceded the doom of the 
party was sounded. Daniel S. Dickinson headed the New York 
Hunkers, and took strong ground against the Little Magician, 
as Van Buren was called. King was cool, calm, and resolved, 
Dickinson witty and sarcastic, Wilmot aggressive and defiant, 



PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. 325 

In 1852 Mr. Buchanan was again presented and defeated, Frank 
Pierce, another Accident, winning the prize. That year sound- 
ed the death-knell of the old Whig party. Rufus Choate was 
present in the Whig National Convention as the champion of 
Daniel Webster, and made a speech of marvelous force and 
beauty in his support, but in vain. The politicians wanted an 
Availability, and got him in General Scott, who was overthrown 
in November by the Democrats. On the fourth trial, in 1856, Mr. 
Buchanan was successful at Cincinnati, because of his supposed 
identity with the sentiment in favor of making Kansas a free 
State. That event lost Judge Douglas his chance. He was 
taken to Charleston, S. C, in i86o, and there defrauded, in ad- 
vance of his more deliberate slaughter at the adjourned con- 
vention in Baltimore. Young Breckinridge was the candidate 
of the extremists of that year, a curious sequel in a life which 
opened in 185 1 in Congress in avowed sympathy with the anti- 
slavery idea. 

Henry A. Wise, in his late work on John Tyler, reveals a pict- 
ure of the disappointed ambition of Henry Clay, when in 1840 
he failed of the Whig nomination, and when he could easily 
have defeated Van Buren. Alas ! his fate had been the fate of 
many. Crawford, Calhoun, Cass, Douglas, all felt the same 
sharp sting before they were called away, and even some of 
those who won the golden bauble lived to find it a barren 
sceptre. A candidate for President soon realizes the value of 
political fealty, and I have often thought that in the nervous 
struggle for that high honor even the best man loses faith in 
others, and forgets his own obligations in his distrust of his sup- 
porters. The vast patronage of the office, and the vexations 
and heart-burnings of those who seek place, open a wide avenue 
to intrigue and deception. And yet, as a general thing, the 
conventions of the past have not been disgraced by corruption. 
Douglas was undoubtedly juggled in i860, but there was no 
direct use of money. He was simply overborne by the South. 



326 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Lincoln was fairly chosen by the Republicans that year, but not 
until Mr. Seward had come to grief by having been compelled 
to drink of the bitter cup drained before by Cass, Webster, and 
Clay. 

As population increases and the Government grows more and 
more imperial, these quadrennial National Conventions become 
intensely important. It is no longer a question that they are 
the best methods for choosing Presidential candidates, and the 
fierce struggle for the control of the Government is itself one 
of the strong points in our system. That which adjourned in 
Cincinnati on Friday was more like a great town meeting than 
a National Convention ; but its work will be felt far and near. 
Among the characters most talked about in that body is Colo- 
nel A. K. McClure, of Pennsylvania. He is in the prime of 
life, about forty-three, of herculean frame, at least six feet two, 
winning address, and great powers of endurance. His career 
has been full of incident. Beginning life poor, as a country 
printer, he afterward studied law, and soon became a Whig 
leader. He is a consummate newspaper writer, and a fine 
speaker. Bold, dashing, resolute, and full of resources, he is a 
valuable friend and a dangerous foe. Among all the diversified 
elements of the Cincinnati gathering there was no one man, not 
even Carl Schurz, who has a better knowledge of public men 
and manners than McClure. I say all this the more freely 
because I think he has committed an irreparable mistake in 
opposing President Grant's re-election ; but as he owns him- 
self, I presume he best knows what he is about. 

[May 5, 1872.] 



PRESIDENTIAL LITERATURE. 327 



LXX. 



A Presidential election always has its comic side, and if 
some of our book-makers would study the newspapers of the 
time, a mass of genuine wit and humor could be collected. The 
songs of the period, the jokes, the travesties, the satire, would 
fill volumes. Franklin would have made a splendid campaigner, 
with his keen sarcasm and his homely phrases, but he died be- 
fore the close of Washington's first term (April, 1790), and 
before he could realize the passions and prejudices that after- 
ward entered into these quadrennial struggles. The libels of 
Freneau, the fierce invectives of Cobbett, the short paragraphs 
of John Binns, all of them first appearing in Philadelphia, would 
interest the country if they could be reproduced to-day. George 
Dennison Prentice was, however, the prince of this style of 
writing. Beginning as the editor of the Louisville Jouriia^ in 
1 83 1, he soon became a host in the opposition to Jackson, Van 
Buren, Polk, and other Democratic Presidents, and his epigrams, 
bright and sharp, often bordering on the severest personality, 
were far more effective than the heavy columns of his editorial 
foes. Duff Green, Shad Penn, Francis P. Blair, and Thomas 
Ritchie. And yet, while he could sting like a hornet, he could 
sing like a nightingale. It is not often that one who distilled 
such venom into his paragraphs, could exhale so much sweet 
fragrance from his poems. We had a rougher wit in William 
B. Conway, the editor of a little Democratic paper called The 
Moutitaineer^ printed in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, who 
threw off some of the finest party songs and repartees of his 
time. 

To Mr. Greeley, however, must be assigned the post of honor 
in making this sort of literature an effective weapon in Presi- 
dential elections. He started The Log Cahin^ in 1840, to aid 
in the election of Harrison and Tyler, and threw such force and 



328 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

variety into it that it soon ran into an immense circulation, and 
became the basis of The Tribune, established in 184 1. A file of 
The Log Cabin would be choice reading, now that Mr. Greeley 
is himself a candidate for the highest office in the nation, and 
might be a model and guide to those who desire to make merry 
at the Philosopher's expense. From this example grew an 
army of imitators on both sides. Greeley's followers sung them- 
selves hoarse for 

" Tippecanoe, and Tyler, too ! " 

and the Van Burenites roared for their favorite in the famous 

ditty beginning — 

" When this old hat was new 
Van Buren was the man." 

Living men who saw those days will not forget the monster 
parades of the Whigs after the Maine election in 1840, when 
they chorused the popular refrain, opening and ending with 

*' Oh ! have you heard the news from Maine, Maine, Maine ?" 
a lesson not lost upon the Democrats four years after, when 
they took up the same song and thundered it back upon the 
Whigs, who lost Maine in the fall elections, and the Presidency 
in the November following. Tammany Hall came forth in a 
tumultuous delirium, making night hideous with exulting itera- 
tion. 

The elections of 1840 and 1844 were far more exciting than 
any of previous years, excepting always that of General Jackson 
in 1832, and the amount of speaking and writing was prodigious. 
All the best talent of those talking times was out : William Al- 
len, Thomas H. Benton, Silas A. Wright, Andrew Stevenson, 
Robert J. Walker, James Buchanan, Daniel S. Dickinson, C. C. 
Cambreling, George W. Barton, for the Democrats ; Webster, 
Choate, W. C. Preston, S. S. Prentiss, Thomas F. Marshall, for 
the Whigs, called out fearful crowds, whose glees and shouts 
rang from Maine to Georgia in response to the humor and in- 
vective of their orators and organs. Thomas F. Marshall's eel- 



PICTORIAL SATIRE. 



329 



ebrated speech at Nashville, in 1844, against Polk, contained 
an allusion to Old Hickory, then at the Hermitage, and even 
at his great age inspiring his hosts of friends, which ought not 
to be lost. I quote from memory. It is a little irreverent, but 
there is a spice in it that shows how freely we treated our idols 
a generation ago : 

"What a career has been that of Andrew Jackson ! A ca- 
reer of success by brutal self-will. No impediment stood in 
his way. If he saw and fancied a pretty woman, even though 
she was another man's wife, he took possession of her. If he 
entered a horse at a race, he frightened or jockeyed his com- 
petitor. If he was opposed by an independent man, he crushed 
him. He saw the country prosperous under the Bank of the 
United States, and shattered it from turret to foundation stone. 
His rule has been ruin to this people, his counsel full of calam- 
ity. And now, when he is approaching his last hours, when 
good men are praying that he may be punished for his many 
misdeeds, he turns Fresbyteria?i and cheats the devil himself ^ 

The war called out a flood of witty songs and speeches, and 
much fine poetry and prose in both sections, only a portion of 
which has formed several volumes of Frank Moore's invaluable 
" Rebellion Record;" but peace has made us less sentimental. 
Our satire now takes the shape of caricature. The photograph 
and the printed picture supplant the paragraph and the pali- 
node. Harper and Frank Leslie laugh at their adversaries 
through grotesque illustrations, and millions are satisfied or ir- 
ritated by sarcasm that needs no prose to strengthen, and no 
poetry to intensify. 

[May 12, 1872.] 



330 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



LXXI. 



One of the sweetest poets of any age was last Tuesday, May 
14, 1872, laid away among the oaks and flowers and monu- 
ments of Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia. Thomas Bu- 
chanan Read, in his fifty-first year, left Rome a little more than 
a month ago on a brief visit to his native country, and on his 
arrival at New York sent me his card, now before me, with these 
words : " Shall see you soon. Aju coming home /" Poor fel- 
low! He is now at home — his last home. Rarely have so 
many gifts been found in one man. Painter, sculptor, poet; 
susceptible, high-strung, loving his country and his friends, his 
soul was too intense for his body, and, like the fabled sword, 
literally consumed its scabbard. The war brought us close to 
each other. Our sympathie.s were in common. His genial nat- 
ure, his genius, his brilliant conversation, his tenacious mem- 
ory, made him a delightful companion. Now he is gone, I love 
to cherish his memory. I wish I could describe his wit, elo- 
quence, and imagery. The rebellion touched his every chord, 
and roused him to superhuman efforts. His loyalty was an 
ecstasy, his pictures and his poems were effusions of purest in- 
spiration. ^Who will forget, that ever heard it, the manner in 
which Murdoch recited the great ode known as " The Patriot's 
Oath ?" I serve a double purpose in reproducing it, while my 
friend's grave is still covered with the freshest and loveliest 
flowers of May, and while the enemies of the nation are or- 
ganized to repossess themselves of the government. The cir- 
cumstances under which this wonderful lyric was composed de- 
serve preservation. The news of the brutal murder of General 
Robert McCook by guerrillas, while he was traveling in Ken- 
tucky during the war, reached Cincinnati when Mr. Read hap- 
pened to be in that city, and aroused universal indignation and 
horror. Mr. Read participated in this sentiment, and applied 



READ AND MURDOCH. 33 1 

the oath of the ghost in Hamlet with thrilling effect. Shortly 
after, Mr. Murdoch was the guest of a Kentucky loyalist, at his 
residence in Danville, in that State. While partaking of his 
hospitalities, in company with a number of the leading men of 
the neighborhood, the question of allegiance to the General 
Government was warmly discussed. Mr. Murdoch's host re- 
marked that many of his friends, although patriotic, were not 
so clear on the subject of putting down the rebellion as he could 
wish them to be; upon which Murdoch said he did not desire 
a controversy, but if he were permitted he would appeal to their 
sympathies by an invocation to their duty and their principles. 
They gladly assented. He stood in the centre of the drawing- 
room with the gentlemen around him, and there recited this 
magnificent appeal. Intense silence pervaded the assemblage. 
At the close the entire group was spell-bound. Tears were 
streaming down the cheeks of many, while others, with the so- 
lemnity which marked the absorbing interest awakened by the 
poet, grasped the hands of their neighbors. The host turned 
to the sideboard in silence, and as each guest raised his glass 
to his lips there was a pause which seemed to render audible 
the words "We Swear." 

^^ Hamlet. Swear on my sword. 
Ghost (below). Swear !" — Shakespeare. 

" Ye freemen, how long will ye stifle 
The vengeance that justice inspires ? 
With treason how long will ye trifle, 

And shame the proud name of your sires "i 
Out ! out with the sword and the rifle. 

In defense of your homes and your fires ! 
The flag of the old Revolution 

Swear firmly to serve and uphold, 
That no treasonous breath of pollution 
Shall tarnish one star on its fold. 
Swear ! 
And hark ! the deep voices replying. 
From graves where your fathers are lying — 
* Swear ! oh, swear !' 



332 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

" In this moment, who hesitates barters 

The rights which his forefathers won; 
He forfeits all claim to the charters 

Transmitted from sire to son. 
Kneel, kneel at the graves of our martyrs, 

And swear on your sword and your gun; 
Lay up your great oath on an altar 

As huge and as strong as Stonehenge, 
And then, with sword, fire, and halter, 

Sweep down the field of revenge. 
Swear ! 
And hark ! the deep voices replying. 
From graves where your fathers are lying — 

* Swear ! oh, swear !' 

•' By the tombs of your sires and brothers, 

The host which the traitors have slain; 
By the tears of your sisters and mothers. 

In secret concealing their pain; 
The grief which the heroine smothers. 

Consuming the heart and the brain; 
By the sigh of the penniless widow, 

By the sob of our orphans' despair, 
Where they sit in their sorrowful shadow, 

Kneel, kneel, every freeman, and swear ! 
Swear ! 
And hark ! the deep voices replying. 
From graves where your fathers are lying — 

* Swear ! oh, sv/ear !' 

" On mounds which are wet with the weeping, 

Where a nation has bow'd to the sod, 
Where the noblest of martyrs are sleeping. 

Let the wind bear your vengeance abroad ; 
And your firm oaths be held in the keeping 

Of your patriot hearts and your God; 
Over Ellsworth, for whom the first tear rose, 

While to Baker and Lyon you look. 
By Winthrop, a star among heroes. 

By the blood of our murder'd McCook, 
Swear ! 



T. BUCHANAN READ. 333 

And hark ! the deep voices replying, 
From graves where your fathers are lying — 
* Swear ! oh, swear !' " 

To add to the solemnity of the occasion, General Robert 
McCook's brother, George, was present, and was much affected 
by the unexpected mention of his murdered brother's name. 
" The Oath," rehearsed by Murdoch, is a drama in itself. Those 
present when, at the request of the lamented Lincoln, he re- 
peated it in the House of Representatives during the war, can 
vividly recall its effect. I have on more than one occasion 
witnessed the involuntary answer of thousands to this electric 
invocation. It is easy to imagine how it must have been re- 
ceived by the soldiers in the field when the enthusiastic histrion 
visited their camps. Identified with the war, he was particu- 
larly attached to Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Lincoln to him, so it 
happened that many of his productions had reference to the 
Martyr. One of the most prophetic of these were the allusions 
in "The New Pastoral," a poem written by Buchanan Read in 
1850, which Murdoch read for the first time in the Hall of the 
House of Representatives, 1864, at a benefit for the sick and 
wounded soldiers. Just as he uttered the following prophecy 
concerning the future, Lincoln entered the chamber and took 
a seat on the right of the Speaker's stand : 

" Let Contemplation view the future scene ; 
Afar the woods before the vision fly. 
Swift as the shadow o'er the meadow grass 
Chased by the sunshine, and a realm of farms 
O'erspread the country wide, where many a spire 
Springs in the valleys, and on distant hills, 
The watch-towers of the land. Here quiet herds 
Shall crop the ample pasture, and on slopes 
Doze through the summer noon ; while every beast 
"Which prowls a terror to the frontier fold. 
Shall only live in some remembered tale, 
Told by tradition in the lighted hall, 
Where the red grate usurps the wooded hearth. 



334 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Here shall the city spread its noisy streets, 
And groaning steamers chafe along the wharves ; 
While hourly o'er the plain, with streaming plume, 
Like a swift herald bringing news of peace. 
The rattling train shall fly ; and from the east — 
E'en from the Atlantic to the new-found shores 
Where far Pacific rolls in storm or rest, 
Washing his sands of gold — the arrowy track 
Shall stretch its iron band through all the land. 
Then these interior plains shall be as they 
Which hear the ocean roar ; and Northern lakes 
Shall bear their produce, and return them wealth, 
And Mississippi, father of the floods. 
Perform their errands to Mexico Gulf, 
And send them back the tropic bales and fruits. 
Then shall -the generation musing here 
Dream of the troublous days before their time, 
And antiquaries point the very spot 
Where rose the first rude cabin, and the space 
Where stood the forest chapel with its graves, 
And where the earliest marriage rites were said. 
Here, in the middle of the nation's arms. 
Perchance the mightiest inland mart shall spring ; 
Here the great statesman from the ranks of toil 
May rise, with judgment clear, as strong, as wise, 
And, with a well-directed, patriot blow, 
Reclinch the rivets in our Union bands 
Which tinkering knaves have striven to set ajar ! 
Here shall, perchance, the mighty bard be born. 
With voice to sweep and thrill the nation's heart, 
Like his own hand upon the corded harp. 
His songs shall be as precious girths of gold. 
Reaching through all the quarters of the land. 
Inlaid so deep within the country's weal 
That they shall hold when heavier bands shall fail, 
Eaten by rust or broke by traitor blows. 
Heaven speed his coming ! He is needed now ! 
O thou my country ! may the future see 
Thy shape majestic stand supreme as now. 
And every stain which mars thy starry robe 
In the white sun of truth be bleach'd awav ! 



THE RELICS. 335 

Hold thy grand posture with unswerving mien, 
Firm as a statue proud of its bright form, 
Whose purity would daunt the vandal hand 
In fury raised to shatter ! From thine eye 
Let the clear light of freedom still dispread 
The broad, unclouded, stationary noon ! 
Still with thy right hand on the fasces lean, 
And with the other point the living source 
Whence all thy glory comes ; and where, unseen, 
But still all-seeing, the great patriot souls 
Whose swords and wisdom left us thus enrich'd. 
Look down and note how we fulfill our trust ! 
Still hold beneath thy fixed and sandaled foot 
The broken sceptre and the tyrant's gyves, 
And let thy stature shine above the world, 
A form of terror and of loveliness !" 

Lincoln was not observed at first. Gradually his presence 
was felt and applauded, which quickly became general, as the 
application to him of the poet's language was made apparent. 
This poem, written eleven years before the rebellion, was re- 
markable. Recalling it as a portrait of the coming man. Read 
wrote during the war the following, on the occasion of the pre- 
sentation to Mr. Lincoln of three ancient relics, consisting of a 
piece of Penn's Treaty Elm, of the old frigate Alliance^ and 
of the halyards of the sloop-of-war Ctimherlaiid, nobly apostro- 
phized by Boker in his great poem : 

"THE APOSTROPHE. 

"Great ruler, these are simple gifts to bring thee — 
Thee, doubly.great, the land's embodied will ; 
And simpler still the song I fain would sing thee ; 
In higher towers let greater poets ring thee 
Heroic chimes on Fame's immortal hill. 

" A decade of the years its flight has taken. 

Since I beheld and pictured ^^^th my pen 
How yet the land on ruin's brink might waken 
To find her temples rudely seized and shaken 

By traitorous demons in the forms of men. 



336 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

" And I foresaw thy coming — even pointed 

The region where the day would find its man 
To reconstruct what treason had disjointed. 
I saw thy brow by Honesty anointed, 

While Wisdom taught thee all her noblest plan. 

" Thy natal stars, by angels' hands suspended, 
A holy trine, were Faith and Hope and Love — 
By these celestial guides art thou attended, 
Shedding perpetual lustre, calm and splendid. 
Around thy path, wherever thou dost move. 

** No earthly lore of any art or science 

Can fill the places of these heavenly three ; 
Faith gives thy soul serene and fixed reliance, 
Hope to the darkest trial bids defiance. 

Love tempers all with her sublime decree. 

" 'Tis fitting, then, these relics full of story. 
Telling ancestral tales of land and sea — 
Each fragment a sublime memento mori 
Of heroes mantled in immortal glory — 

Should be consigned, great patriot, unto thee." 

I could fill a volume with reminiscences of Thomas Buchan- 
an Read. One of the giants of American literature said, "His 
poetry is the embodiment of nature's fanciful creation, of the 
exquisitely bright and the delicately beautiful, as expressed in 
the loves of the fairies and the poetry of the stars, in maiden 
purity and youthful heroism. His pictures are poems, and his 
poems are pictures." 

[May 19, 1872.] 



LXXH. 

More than fifty colored delegates in the Republican Nation- 
al Convention at Philadelphia, June 5, 1872 ! Shades of John 
C. Calhoun, Barnwell Rhett, Dixon H. Lewis, John Slidell, and 



ROBERT PURVIS. 337 

W. L. Yancey, is this to be permitted ? Little did the lords of 
slavery twenty years ago think that such an offense would ever 
be dared. When I recall Dawson, of Louisiana, with his curls 
and jewels and gold-headed cane ; Ashe, of North Carolina, 
with his jolly yet imperious style j John S. Barbour, of Virginia, 
with his plantation manners; Governor Manning, of South Car- 
olina, as handsome as Mrs. Stowe's best picture of the old 
Southern school in " Uncle Tom's Cabin ;" Pierre Soule, with 
his handsome, haughty face, true types and apostles of the pe- 
culiar institution, I wonder how they would feel to see the South 
represented in a National Convention by their former slaves. 
A little more than ten years have sufficed to disprove all the 
predictions against the colored race, but in nothing so much as 
in the intelligence of their representative leaders, and in their 
own general improvement. If you were to compare the chiefs 
of the freedmen with the chief slaveholders, knowing them as I 
knew them, you would soon realize that John M. Langston, 
professor of the Law Department of the Howard University, is 
as thorough a lawyer as Pierre Soule in his best days; that 
Robert Brown Elliott is a better scholar and speaker than Lau- 
rence M. Keitt, who, having helped to create the rebellion, died 
in fighting for it ; and that Benjamin Sterling Turner, of Selma, 
Alabama, a self-educated slave, and now a freedman in Con- 
gress, is as practical a business man as John Forsyth or George 
S. Houston. 

Frederick Douglass was famous as an orator before the war. 
With the fall of slavery, however, he rose to the highest position. 
His eloquence is formed on the best models. Captivating, per- 
suasive, and often profound, he wields an increasing influence 
in both races. 

But among the colored delegates in the Republican National 
Convention none will attract more attention than Robert Pur- 
vis, of Philadelphia, I hope some day to relate the romance 
of his life. Born in Columbia, South Carolina, he left it fifty- 

P 



338 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

three years ago, when he was about seven years old. A few 
weeks since he returned to his native city, and was eagerly wel- 
comed by his own people, and by many of the old citizens, who 
favorably remembered his father and mother, and had watched 
his own career with friendly eyes. The changes wrought in this 
more than half a century were more than revolutionary. The 
stone rejected by the builders had become the head of the col- 
umn. The magnates had disappeared, and those who made 
them so had taken their places. It was a bewildering dream ; 
yet the retributive fact stood prominent. 

The descendants of Calhoun, Rhett, M'Queen, Hayne, and 
Brooks no longer ruled like their fathers. New influences and 
new ideas prevailed. Mr. Purvis stood among his kindred like 
another Rip Van Winkle, with the difference that he was not 
forgotten ; and as he walked the streets of Columbia and re- 
ceived the ovation of his friends in Charleston, he saw and felt 
that, although slavery was dead and the old slave-lords deposed, 
the sun shone, the grass grew, the flowers bloomed, the birds 
caroled, and the waters run, as when the magnates lived on the 
labor of others as good as themselves, and often died confessing 
that their bad work must come to a bitter end. 

Robert Purvis is one of the best proofs of the influence of 
education, travel, good associations, and natural self-respect. 
Few would distinguish him to be what he often proudly calls 
himself, " a negro." His complexion is not darker than that of 
Soule or Manning. His manners are quiet and courtly. His 
general knowledge is large, and his conversation easy and intel- 
lectual. Educated at some of the best of our Philadelphia 
schools before there was any prejudice against the reputable man 
or woman of color, and when colored votes were thrown at all the 
elections, he has reached sixty, universally esteemed. His fam- 
ily is among the most refined in the aristocratic country neigh- 
borhood where he lives, and he commands respect of others by 
the courage with which he and his children respect themselves. 



THE COMING CENTENNIAL. 



339 



Yet while he walks erect in all circles, and yields to none in 
the graces of manhood, and in the observances of what we call 
society, he is the ardent friend of his people, determined that 
they shall eventually secure all their civil, as they have now their 
political, rights. No more useful or influential man will sit 
among the delegates to the Philadelphia National Convention, 
Wednesday, the 5th of June, 1872. 

As these colored colleagues of Robert Purvis from the South 
gather around their friend and teacher, how many a story they 
could relate of their individual lives ! Each has had his ro- 
mance of hard reality. Their struggles as slaves — their expe- 
rience as freedmen — their "hair-breadth 'scapes by flood and 
field " — their restoration to family and friends — the fate of their 
old " masters " — what material for the poet, the novelist, the 
historian, and the philanthropist ! 

[May 26, 1872.] 



LXXIII. 

Philadelphia was honored by a national convention in the 
shape of the Colonial Congress, which, ninety-six years ago, 
next 4th of July, proclaimed American independence. The 
body which is to assemble at the Academy of Music, Wednes- 
day, June 5, will be one of the only three that gave practical 
expression to the ideas of the Declaration. While slavery ex- 
isted, no national convention of any party could consistently 
plead for freedom. And as the years rolled on, the fetters of 
the bondmen were more closely riveted, and the chains of the 
political leader made heavier. Now all is in harmony with 
the protest and prophecy of Thomas Jeflerson and his compa- 
triots. Thousands will be present who never saw Philadelphia ; 
and if they will trace the growth of their country in the growth 



340 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

of the City of Brotherly Love, they will study American history 
on the spot where American liberty was born. They will walk 
the streets trod by Washington. They will see the places de- 
scribed by Franklin in his incomparable autobiography. They 
will be taken to the spot where he was buried. They will re- 
alize where John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Roger 
Sherman, Alexander Hamilton, Robert Morris, Andrew Jack- 
son, Delegates or Senators in Congress, Cabinet Ministers, 
financiers, etc., lived in those trying times ; and as they follow 
up the progress of events from their source they will better un- 
derstand why President Grant is to-day the strongest public 
man in America. Discounted by the accidents, and, if you 
please, by the errors of all men in his position, you find the 
great fact remaining, that he is the only man who ever had the 
full opportunity, and seized that opportunity boldly, to prove 
his devotion to the principles of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. Without any thing like a party record, and without the 
slightest pretension, he has grasped the whole situation, with all 
its obligations, and has been as true to advanced Republican 
doctrines, as these have been crystallized by experience, as if 
he had made that species of philosophy a study. The danger 
has always been that those earliest in defending great truths 
become hypercritical as they grow old. Grant's rare merit is 
that he accepts a fact proved by trial, and incorporates it into 
his administration. In this respect he resembles George Wash- 
ington. Washington never was a political experimenter. He 
never reveled in theories. He was not carried away by vision- 
ary hopes of human perfectibility. He wrote little and spoke 
less. And yet, as President, he executed the laws, kept the 
peace between Hamilton and Jefferson, bore with the eccentric- 
ities of John Adams, and never lost his temper when Thomas 
Paine and Philip Francis Freneau hurled their bitterest shafts 
against his private character. I need not elaborate the paral- 
lel. You have Grant before you, and can do it without my aid. 



SENATOR HENRY WILSON. 



341 



Twenty-four hundred years of human effort, revolution, and 
ambition may be studied in the remains of ancient and the tri- 
umphs of modern Rome. With the torch of our new intelli- 
gence we light up and restore the memories of those almost 
forgotten centuries. "A railroad to Pompeii !" says that fasci- 
nating writer, George S. Hillard, of Boston, in his charming 
book, "Six Months in Italy" — "it seemed appropriate to be 
transported from the living and smiling present to the heart of 
the dead past by the swiftest and most powerful wings that 
modern invention has furnished." Our one century of govern- 
ment discloses wonders and trophies of another kind. The 
world has gone forward with the speed of magic, and as we turn 
back for a moment to contemplate what has been done in that 
cycle, what better aid could we have to illuminate our path than 
the living lessons of the city of Philadelphia, as taught by the 
men of the Revolution, whose posterity can even yet recall their 
features, and rejoice with us among thennagnificent harvest of 
the seed which they planted ninety-six years ago ? 

[June 2, 1872.] 



LXXIV. 

Henry Wilson, our candidate for Vice-President, is a fine 
example of the effect of free institutions upon the struggling 
youth of America, and also a proof of the practical consistency 
of the Republican party. I have known him well for over sev- 
enteen years. Twelve months younger than Mr. Sumner, he 
has always been his friend, even when compelled to differ with 
him. Wilson is one of the men who wear well Time and trial 
improve and ripen them. No day passes that they do not learn 
something. I met him while I was presiding over the House 
of Representatives in the stormy session of 1855-56, and had 



342 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

a chance to study his character. He saw that the time was 
coming when Democrats hke myself would be compelled to 
choose between liberty and slavery, and his anxiety to secure 
such a reinforcement to his party was shown in his kindness to 
and confidence in that brave and earnest body of men. And 
when the storm broke, in 1858, and Buchanan sought to force 
the Lecompton Constitution upon Kansas, Henry Wilson threw 
himself with especial fervor among the revolting Democrats. 
He consulted with us and encouraged us ; he traveled far and 
near to effect co-operation and organization ; and when my 
name was presented for Clerk of the House in 1859, he insisted 
that I should be elected without pledges. These had been de- 
manded by some of the more violent Republicans, and sternly 
refused. I did not ask for the place, and would not have 
touched it if it had interfered with my independence as editor 
of The Press. Wilson declared that I was right, and with the 
aid of Charles Francfe Adams, John Hickman, John B. Has- 
kin, and John Schwartz, we organized the House, and soon 
after the anti-Lecompton Democrats constituted a resistless 
Republican reserve. Henry Wilson is a superb organizer. His 
temperate life and high principles, his fine health and strong 
convictions, his knowledge of the prejudices and wants of men, 
made him a great power against the rebellion, as well in the 
army as at the head of the Committee on Military Affairs. The 
amount of work performed was prodigious. He was a real 
break-of-day man — a sleepless, untiring, and unmurmuring pa- 
triot. A little too impulsive, perhaps, his is one of the truest 
of hearts, warm, generous, and forgiving. His frugal habits ac- 
cord with his strict integrity. He is inexpensive in his tastes 
and desires, and lives among his books and his friends. He 
visits a great deal, and reads much. Active and quick, regular 
in his seat in the Senate, he is often seen on the Avenue and 
in society, though he never touches wine or cigars. He is a 
thorough common-sense man, and a natural medium between 



DEMOCRACY FORTY YEARS AGO. 343 

quarreling friends. His blows are for the enemy ; his forgive- 
ness for his associates. He hates corruption as he hated slav- 
ery, and he will go far to punish a faithless trustee. Such is 
our candidate for Vice-President. Is he not an argument in 
himself? Especially so when we reflect that this man w^orked 
for the lowest wages as a boy on a farm, and began to learn 
shoemaking when he was twenty-one years of age ! 

[June 9, 1872.] 



LXXV. 

I WAS a boy in a Lancaster printing-office when the Jackson 
party swallowed the old Federalists, and when the Democracy 
took a fresh start under the banner of Old Hickory. There 
had been no trenchant Democratic organization till that day, 
when the Iron President rallied and crystallized it. In 1824 
every aspirant for President was a Democrat — Clay, J. Q. Ad- 
ams, Crawford, Calhoun, and, of course, Jackson; but there 
was no vigorous antagonism till the Whigs rose out of Mr. 
Clay's aspirations, and died with their decline. James Buchan- 
an was an early Federalist, and sat in the Pennsylvania Legis- 
lature from Lancaster as a Federalist, and afterward in Con- 
gress as a representative of the same party ; and when he join- 
ed the Democrats, under the Jackson standard, about 1828-30, 
he had to endure many bitter sneers from his old associates. 
They charged him with having gone over for a selfish purpose. 
They alleged that he ought to have been, in the logic of events, 
a good Whig ; but he pointed to the fact that the Jackson party 
contained thousands of Federalists as active as himself, and 
that many of the Whig leaders were once Democrats like Clay. 
This was the Democracy forty years ago. It has passed 
through many changes since, and survived many storms. It 



344 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

killed the Whigs in 1844, the Native Americans in 1845, ^^le 
Taylorites in 1849-50, the AVebsterites in 1852, and the Know- 
Nothings in 1854. At last, however, it undertook a job bigger 
than itself. It entered into partnership with the rebellion, was 
bankrupted by the investment, and finally died in the arms of 
its ablest enemy, Horace Greeley. So history repeats as it 
runs ! Old Hickory made the modern Democracy, and Horace 
Greeley unmakes it ! The one presided at its marriage with 
the Federals in 1828-30, the other follows it to its grave in 
1872. The real Democracy of our times is the Republican 
party, of which President Grant is the leader ; but from this 
hour, whatever may be the issue of next November's contest, 
there will be as earnest a rivalry to prove which is the better 
Republican as, forty years ago, there was to prove which was 
the better Democrat. Most of the politicians in those early 
days were anxious to show their devotion to the Democracy, 
and now John C. Breckinridge, Horatio Seymour, W. W. Cor- 
coran, Charles R. Buckalew, and even Jefferson Davis, are anx- 
ious to show their devotion to the Republicans. Thus we gath- 
er a great lesson over a grave. Under Jackson the old Feder- 
alists were buried in a Democratic sepulchre. Under Greeley 
the Democrats are buried in a Republican one. And now that 
the Republicans have fairly absorbed the Democrats, how long 
will the new departure last ? 

[July 21, 1872.] 



LXXVI. 

Massachusetts, and, indeed, most of the New England States 
— but Massachusetts above all — presents the very best modern 
ideal of a thorough Republic, not alone in her productive ca- 
pacities, nor yet in her scientific excellences, nor even in her 



THE NEW ENGLAND STATES. 345 

high collegiate establishments, but in the primary elements of 
general education, public lectures, town halls, large libraries, 
and local historians. The opportunities for universal informa- 
tion are most general, and almost perfect. The fundamental 
principle of republican government is typified in the frequent 
popular meetings, wherein are discussed all municipal necessi- 
ties, in spacious buildings, which can also be utilized for other 
purposes, and which are, in every case, I think, connected with 
libraries open to every class and condition. The result is an 
insatiate appetite for learning. The whole social frame-work 
is permeated by healthy competition. No ordinary or superfi- 
cial lecturer or book satisfies the public. Accustomed to read 
the best authors, they will tolerate none but the best of speak- 
ers. Agassiz, Emerson, and Dr. Holmes are preferred to fee- 
bly forcible wits and glittering declaimers. These are the in- 
fluences which produce so fine and wholesome a literature in 
New England — which open so many doors to Massachusetts 
scholars — which place Longfellow, Whittier, Bancroft, Motley, 
Hillard, Prescott, Dana, Lowell, Ticknor, and Sprague at the 
head of the American schools of learning — which send forth to 
States and Territories intelligent young men and women quali- 
fied to lead in art and in industry — whether these relate to the 
labor of the hands or to the labor of the brain. When Mr. 
Sumner returned from his last tour through Pennsylvania, after 
having repeated in many of our prominent places his great lect- 
ures on "Caste," "Lafayette," and "The Franco-Prussian War," 
he spoke in raptures of the extraordinary variety and fertility 
of our soil and our productions, especially of the wonderful min- 
eral and agricultural developments in such counties as Leba- 
non, Schuylkill, and Wyoming, and along the region of the Al- 
leghany Valley. " But," he remarked, " that which pained me, 
in the midst of all this affluence, was the absence in your most 
populous interior cities of libraries and town halls, such as we 
have in New England ; and I beg of you," he said to me, "to 

P2 



346 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

employ your pen in calling the attention of the people of the 
Middle States to the vital importance of securing such insti- 
tutions wherever the population warrants them." As these 
thoughts occurred to me, I recalled an unpretending and hum- 
ble scholar — the most active and accurate, if not the most ele- 
gant and polished of our local historians — whose life in itself is 
an example to our youth, and whose efforts, extending through 
now nearly half a century, might have been fittingly imitated 
by men of loftier pretensions and more numerous acquirements. 
I deplore the fact that, whereas Massachusetts has at least one 
or two first-class historians and biographers in every county, 
Pennsylvania has yet to find a perfectly qualified mind to pre- 
pare or to compile such a book for the State itself as w^ould do 
justice to our past and our present, and fit us for the future, 
and at the same time stimulate others to follow in the lead of 
the subject of this notice — I. Daniel Rupp, Esq. He was born 
near Harrisburg in 1803, and is now living, in his seventieth 
year, at West Philadelphia. This quiet yet laborious man has 
produced a variety of works of all kinds — most of them de- 
voted to the early records of Pennsylvania. Allibone's " Dic- 
tionary of Authors" speaks of him as an industrious historian, 
translator, and agricultural writer. Without enumerating his 
productions on other subjects, the Pennsylvania reader will be 
surprised to see how much of his time has been given to that 
State, as proved by the following list : History of Lancaster 
County; History of the Counties of Berks, Lebanon, York, 
Northampton, Lehigh, Monroe, Carbon, Schuylkill, Dauphin, 
Cumberland, Franklin, Bedford, Adams, and Perry ; History of 
Western Pennsylvania and the West, from 1754 to 1833 ; His- 
tory and Biography of Northumberland, Huntingdon, Mifflin, 
Centre, Union, Cambria, Juniata, and Clinton Counties, and a 
Collection of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, 
French, Portuguese, and other Immigrants to Pennsylvania, 
originally covering a period from 1727 to 1776 — an invaluable 



A LOCAL HISTORIAN. 347 

book to all persons anxious to ascertain the names of their an- 
cestors — now, I fear, almost out of print — published at Harris- 
burg on the 25th of January, 1856. He has also ready for the 
press a monograph of the Hessian mercenaries in the British 
service during the Revolution, from 1775 to 1783, and has been 
engaged since 1827 in collecting materials for an original his- 
tory of the German, Swiss, and Huguenot emigrants to Penn- 
sylvania. 

Owing to lack of means, this really useful work has not yet 
been published. Under New England influences it would long 
since have been given to the world. It must not be understood 
as depreciating my native State ; but is it not true that, with 
the exception of Breckinridge's Western Pennsylvania; Wat- 
son's Annals; the works of Chas. Minor ; Rupp's contributions 
above named, and a few excellent but incomplete memoirs, we 
are sadly deficient in literature inspired by our early struggles 
and present pre-eminence ? A history of Pennsylvania adapt- 
ed to the times has yet to be written. Mr. Sypher's book for 
schools has decided merits ; but we wait for a work equal to 
the traditions, the facts, the men, and the manners of past days 
brought down to the present time. When will that historian 
appear ? 

[July 28, 1872.] 



Lxxvn. 

No problem of modern civilization is so vexed as that of 
municipal government, or the difficulty of securing good rulers 
for great cities, of regulating taxation, and preserving the pub- 
lic credit. Paris became the dazzling metropolis of the Con- 
tinent under the irresponsible rule of Louis Napoleon, whose 
chief agent, Baron Haussman, executed his master's commands 



348 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

without much regard for private rights, but certainly produced 
matchless results. The money spent and squandered upon the 
French capital under Haussman reached a fabulous sum, but 
the comforts and luxuries secured to strangers were equally un- 
usual. London is controlled by a number of corporate bodies, 
and many complaints are heard against their profligacy. Berlin 
and Vienna are magically improved in every direction. Brus- 
sels is a miniature Paris, and the Dutch cities. The Hague, 
Amsterdam, and Rotterdam, are famous for their institutions 
of art and learning, and the comparative comfort of their over- 
taxed population. But these, like Edinburgh and Dublin, are 
governed rather by the monarch than by the people. It is 
when we come to apply popular rule to municipalities that the 
worst difficulties are encountered. The rapid growth of our 
American cities, the necessity for heavy expenditures in paved 
streets, public buildings, water, light, and the preservation of 
property, open the door to endless speculation. Boston is un- 
questionably the best-managed city in America, mainly because 
there is very little politics in its administration, a severe system 
of finance, a police extending over the State, and a rigid at- 
tendance at the primary elections by prominent men. He who 
visits AVashington to-day, after an absence of twenty years, will 
be amazed at its progress and its promises. We may prefigure 
its future by its contrast with the past. As we remember its 
dusty streets in summer and its muddy streets in winter, its 
poor hotels and boarding-houses, its miserable police, its disor- 
ganized finances, in the light of its increasing miles of broad 
and beautiful drives, its new temples of education and learning, 
its gallery of art, its splendid public edifices, with the superb 
Capitol crowning the whole, unsurpassed in the world, we may 
easily anticipate the day when Washington will be the favorite 
and the loveliest city on our side of the sea. President Grant 
struck the key-note when he appointed Henry D. Cooke Gov- 
ernor of the District of Columbia under the Congressional act 



GOVERNOR HENRY D. COOKE. 349 

of reorganization, which made the popular branch of the local 
Legislature elective, and gave the people a Delegate in Con- 
gress. Mr. Cooke is one of the many proofs of the wisdom of 
our Chief Magistrate. He is just forty-seven, and when he ac- 
cepted the post had accumulated a handsome fortune, which 
placed him beyond temptation. "Whatever may be said of the 
propriety of opening public positions to every condition, expe- 
rience has proved that the mayor of a great city should be be- 
yond pecuniary want. Undoubtedly the choice of such a man 
as William M. Tweed at the head of perhaps the most impor- 
tant department in the city of New York opened the way to 
that series of speculations and corruptions which tottered to its 
fall, amid the congratulations of the people, in the autumn of 
187 1. In olden times, the mayors (for instance) of Philadelphia 
were men who had acquired independence by long years of in- 
dustry and frugality, and our people proudly recall the days 
when worthy citizens like Wharton, Scott, and Page acted in 
that capacity. It is true, Philadelphia during that time was not 
what it is to-day, with its increasing population and necessities. 
Perhaps, if they were now in command, they would not escape 
the censure so fiercely passed upon their successors. Governor 
Cooke, at the head of the government of the District of Colum- 
bia, has come in for his full share of criticism, but his vindica- 
tion closely follows the proofs of the justice and the sagacity 
of his administration. His career is an example of his fitness 
to preside over the destinies of a great cosmopolitan centre. 
Born in Ohio, educated at Meadville, Pennsylvania, bred to the 
law, then a school-teacher and a newspaper editor in Philadel- 
phia, where he formed the acquaintance of literary lights like 
Joseph R. Chandler, Joseph C. Neal, and Robert T. Conrad, 
then Vice-Consul at one of the South American ports under his 
connection, Consul-General William G. Moorhead, more than 
twenty-five years ago, and finally finding fortune in acquiring a 
knowledge of banking under Jay Cooke, in Philadelphia, his 



350 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

removal to Washington, at the beginning of Mr. Lincoln's 
administration, and his connection afterward with the great 
banking-house with which he is still identified, he has gather- 
ed enough knowledge of men to qualify him for the arduous 
services which have made Washington City what it is. Fine 
manners, princely hospitality, warm and ardent sympathies with 
the new citizens and the cause of universal education, make 
him acceptable to every class. Never a polidcian in the vulgar 
interpretation of that word, although a sincere and consist- 
ent Republican, and rich enough, as I have said, to escape 
suspicion, his intercourse with the Representatives and Sena- 
tors in Congress of every shade is agreeable to himself and 
profitable to his constituents. The generous bounty of Con- 
gress to the District at the last session, inspired by the explicit 
recommendations of General Grant in his annual message, is 
to be attributed to the confidence reposed in Governor Cooke; 
and when our law-makers meet in December they will be sur- 
prised at the enormous amount of work done under the au- 
spices of Governor Cooke and the energetic Board of Public 
Works appointed by the President, with Alexander R. Shep- 
herd at their head. 

In five years from to-day the District of Columbia will be the 
choice winter resort of the country, and will be to the people 
of wealth and intelligence — to inventors, our men of science, 
and to foreigners, an irresistible attraction. Directly connect- 
ed. North and South, by new railroads, and offering extraor- 
dinary inducements to persons of moderate means who desire 
to live in a healthy climate and to enjoy the best society, it will 
be sought by men from every State, whether as visitors or resi- 
dents. And when that day comes, no name will be more af- 
fectionately remembered and honored than that of Governor 
Henry D. Cooke. 

[August 4. 1872.] 



OUR FUTURE LEADERS. 



LXXVIII. 



351 



" Our future leaders — where are they to come from ?" was 
the question of a friend, a short time ago, after an interesting 
discussion on the necessity of securing the best material in the 
management of government, society, and business. We were 
looking out of the window of my editorial room in Philadelphia. 
I answered, pointing to the newsboys and bootblacks congre- 
gated at the corner of Seventh and Chestnut Streets, " There 
are your future leaders. That little fellow with the curly hair 
is an embryo merchant; that one with torn trowsers is the sap- 
ling of a sturdy politician; that black-eyed lad is saving his 
money to pay for a collegiate education." And has it not been 
so of most of the strong men of our times? On the Pacific 
coast many of the great houses grew from just such seeds. 
Sargent, the United States Senator elect, visited Philadelphia 
twenty-five years ago to get work as a journeyman printer, and 
failed; Latham, the millionaire, who has been in both houses 
of Congress and Governor of the State, began life very poor; 
Broderick was in New York a Bowery boy in 1847; ^"d the 
railroad kings, most of them, began life as low down as the lit- 
tle Bohemians at our corner. The sons of the rich, the edu- 
cated darlings of the great families, are nowhere. All their 
gifts were so many fatal temptations, and they themselves are 
forgotten, like bad copies of good pictures. " It is the rough 
brake that virtue must go through." 

A recent writer insists that a grandfather is no longer a so- 
cial institution. Men do not live in the past. They rarely 
look back. " Forward !" is the universal cry. Perhaps our 
reverence for our ancestors suffers, but such a thing as a great 
family in this country helps nobody. Even the Adamses of the 
present day make litde out of their former generations of great- 
ness. Thomas Hughes struck the key-note when he said that 



352 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the absence of the laws of primogeniture and entail in this 
country opened a wide door to poor young men, and compelled 
the very rich to spend their money in good deeds to save it 
from being wasted by their posterity, and thus great fortunes 
change hands almost as rapidly as the changes of life. But we 
must not forget that many of the most useful and illustrious of 
the English leaders are the growth of the long years, of patient 
study and careful rearing of their fathers. One fault of our 
system is the absence of this very experience, and the presence 
of so much undisciplined intellect in our public places. Yet, 
with all these drawbacks, how easily the machinery of American 
government moves on; how successfully it survives accident; 
how providentially it seems to order and control itself! And, 
though we sometimes mourn for our great ones gone, there is 
not a day that does not teach the wholesome lesson that nobody 
is necessary or indispensable. Every hour some new man 
starts up to fill the vacancy made by the death of an old leader, 
and in nearly every instance the new man is found equal to the 
emergency. Ours may be called the Age of Utility. We are 
not prolific of statesmen or orators, and politics has degenerated 
into a poor strife between speculators and mediocrities. But 
for all this the country is safe. One such man as Leland Stan- 
ford, of the Central Pacific Railroad, or Dean Richmond, of the 
New York Central, or Ben Holliday, Jr., of Oregon, or John Ed- 
gar Thomson, or his vigorous vice-president, Thomas A. Scott, 
may do more practical good, and has more real power, than a 
Webster or Clay. And when we consider that, like Webster 
and Clay, they have all risen from small beginnings, is it going 
too far to say that they may purify and elevate our politics even 
as they extend their great enterprises and enrich themselves ? 
He who inherits wealth without mind is always sure to under- 
rate mind, but he who by sheer hard knocks works his own way 
through the rock of adversity into affluence, is sure to set a 
high price upon intellect. And thus it stands that many of 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 353 

those who have grown to great riches by their own exertions 
have taken every opportunity, Hke Asa Packer, Pardee, Cornell, 
A. T. Stewart, George Peabody, and George W. Childs, to give 
liberally to the education of the masses from whom they sprang. 

[September 15, 1872.] 



LXXIX. 

I HAVE been enjoying, for the first time, William H. Seward's 
"Life of John Quincy Adams," published in 1849, and I pro- 
nounce it among the best biographies I ever read. It is the 
tribute of one great man to another. I do not compare Mr. 
Seward to John Quincy Adams, but if any writer in his forty- 
ninth year — the age when Seward wrote his life of Adams — 
would now undertake the same work for Seward, he would pro- 
duce a book of uncommon interest. Mr. Adams was over eighty 
when he died in the Capitol of the country he had served so 
well. Mr. Seward is now in his seventy-second year, and his 
experience, though not marked by the austere lines of that of 
Adams, is one of the eventful examples of our day. He " still 
lives" at Auburn, New York, in a body wrecked by accident 
and the assassin's dagger; but his intellect shines through the 
shattered casket like light through a ruined castle. He will be 
fortunate if the historian of his varied and somewhat grotesque 
career — a combination as it was of curious evolutions, daring 
experiments, and very great abilities — is as careful and thought- 
ful a delineator of human nature as the biographer of John 
Quincy Adams. 

But I did not intend to compliment Mr. Seward, nor to draw 
a parallel between him and John Quincy Adams, in nothing 
more striking than the fact that both are supposed to have kept 
a close and graphic detail or diary of their political and official 



354 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

relations. The volume before me, chiefly the product of his 
brain, has been so long forgotten, and contains so many new 
suggestions, at least to the present generation, that a glance 
through its pages may be pleasant and profitable to the reader 
of these Anecdotes. 

The American progenitor of the Adams family was Henry 
Adams, who fled in 1639 from ecclesiastical oppression in En- 
gland, and was a member of the first Christian Church at Mount 
Wollaston, the present town of Quincy, Massachusetts, and died 
on the 8th of October, 1646. His memory is preserved by a 
plain granite monument in the burial-ground of Quincy, upon 
which John Adams, second President of the United States, 
caused the following inscription to be carved : 

"In Memory of 

" Who took his flight from the dragon Persecution in Devonshire, in En- 
gland, and alighted, with eight sons, near Mount Wollaston. One 
of the sons returned to England, and, after taking time to ex- 
plore the country, four removed to Medfield and the 
neighboring towns, two to Chelmsford. 
*' One only, Joseph, who lies here at his left hand, remained here, who was 
an original proprietor in the Township of Braintree, incorporated 
in the year 1639. 
" This stone and several others have been placed in this yard, by a great- 
great-grandson, from a veneration of the piety, humility, simplicity, prudence, 
patience, temperance, frugality, industry, and perseverance of his ancestors, 
in hope of recommending an imitation of their virtues to their posterity." 

If we trace the descendants of Henry Adams we shall realize 
how faithfully the ideas carved on the stony monument of their 
great ancestor have been cherished. Three generations have 
attested their devotion to these valuable precepts. I recollect 
no American family that can point to so many great minds, all 
formed, as it were, upon one model. The sons of the living 
Charles Francis Adams, himself the son of John Quincy, are far 
above the common standard, John Quincy Adams, Jr., being a 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 355 

political leader of acknowledged power, and a writer of uncom- 
mon gifts. But none of the name, not even the second Presi- 
dent, have made such a mark upon his age as the successor of 
James Monroe. 

Mr. Seward shows how carefully John Quincy Adams was 
trained for the battle of life. At a period when our American 
youth are too apt to neglect their precious and surpassing op- 
portunities, it may be useful to recall the boyhood of that re- 
markable man. Born at Quincy, May ii, 1767, he was literally 
cradled in the Revolution, and almost baptized in its blood. 
His great grandfather, Quincy, on his mother's side, was dying, 
and his daughter, grandmother of young John Quincy, was pres- 
ent at the birth of the latter, and insisted that he might receive 
the name of Quincy ; and in one of his letters the incident is 
thus referred to : " The fact, recorded by my father at the time, 
has connected with portions of my name a charm of mingled 
sensibility and devotion. It was filial tenderness that gave the 
name. It was the name of one passing from earth to immortal- 
ity. These have been among the strongest links of my attach- 
ment to the narrie of Quincy, and have bee?t, through life, a per- 
petual admoJiition to do iiothmg tmworthy of it'^ Fortified by 
the example of his ancestors on both sides, and by the care of 
a cultivated father and a careful mother, he was so studious 
and manly that Edward Everett, in his eulogy, said : " There 
seemed to be in his life no such stage as that of boyhood." 
When only nine years old he wrote as follows to his father : 

"Braintree, June 2, 1777. 
"Dear Sir, — I love to receive letters very well, much better than I love 
to write them. My head is much too fickle. My thoughts are running after 
birds' eggs, play, and trifles, till I am vexed with myself. Mamma has a 
troublesome task to keep me studying. I own I am ashamed of myself I 
have but just entered the third volume of Rollin's History, but designed 
to have got half through it by this time. I am determined this week to be 
more diligent. Mr. Thaxter [his teacher] is absent at court. I have set my- 
self a task this week— to read the third volume half out. If I can keep my 



356 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

resolution, I may again at the end of the week give a better account of my- 
self. I wish, sir, you would give me in writing some instructions with re- 
gard to the use of my time, and advise me how to proportion my reading and 
play, and I will keep them by me and endeavor to follow them. With the 
present determination of growing better, I am, dear sir, your son, 

"John Quincy Adams. 

" P. S. — Sir, — If you will be so good as to favor me with a blank book, I 
will transcribe the most remarkable passages I meet with in my reading, 
which will serve to fix them upon my mind." 

Here we see the beginning of that extraordinary diary which 
was continued down to the period of his death in the Speaker's 
room of the House of Representatives, on the 23d of February, 
1848. That great work has not yet seen the hght, but is in 
process of preparation for publication by his son, Charles Fran- 
cis Adams, and will be issued at an early day by the great house 
of J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia. The value of such a 
diary is proved by Mr. Seward's biography. It is in most cases 
infallible, and whenever Mr. Adams allowed a reference to be 
made to its pages, the evidence was decisive. Accurate and 
painstaking in every thing, living by rule, he stated a fact ex- 
actly as it occurred, and at the exact time, and from his author- 
ity there could be no appeal. Mr. Seward himself seems to 
have adopted John Quincy Adams as his model, at least in his 
later years. His late travels round the world, his steady refusal 
to intermix with passing politics, and his entire independence in 
the expression of his opinions, taken in connection with the 
general belief that he is busy preparing his own memoirs, show 
that, unlike most retired statesmen, he is not insensible of the 
world's judgment, and that in his old age he is still keenly alive 
to the progress of his country. But he can leave no memento 
that will do him more credit than his " Life of John Quincy 
Adams," published in 1849. 

[September 22, 1872.] 



WESTWARD ho! 357 



LXXX. 



Now that the Territories have assumed a significance, not to 
say grandeur, unknown in the days of Jackson and Polk, we 
may better appreciate Thomas H. Benton's stereotyped advice 
whenever a young man called on him in Washington to ask his 
influence for a clerkship in one of the Departments : " Go to 
the Territories, sir; or to one of the new States. Go to Iowa 
or Missouri ; go to Wisconsin or Illinois. If you are a lawyer, 
hang out your shingle and show that you are deserving ; if a 
farmer, buy a quarter-section of land and cultivate it ; if a me- 
chanic, open your shop and work ; but don't stay here to burn 
yourself out with rum, or to rust with idleness. Do any thing 
but serve as a slave in one of these wretched bureaus." Good 
advice thirty, forty, even fifty years ago, and better to-day. The 
men who went forth into the Territories in Benton's time, when 
he left Tennessee for Missouri, or when Sam Houston left Ten- 
nessee for Texas, or when John C. Breckinridge tried his young 
fortunes by removing from Kentucky to Iowa, after the Mexican 
war ; like the early pioneers to other regions, when the West 
was bounded by the Missouri River — these men had a hard 
time of it. They had to meet not only a primitive people, but 
to traverse a primitive country, with few or no conveniences, 
either of food or of shelter, and to give weeks and months of 
valuable time before they reached their destination. How dif- 
ferent to-day ! We go West in palace cars, swift " as the sight- 
less couriers of the air," to find even in the heart of the Rocky 
Mountains, and in the defiles of the Sierras, the best luxuries 
of life, and the choicest temptations to business enterprise or 
professional ambition. These modern inducements take off 
much of the superior material of the older States, and we need 
not be surprised if the West and the Pacific slope furnish, here- 
after, the strongest minds in public affairs. Perhaps the mani- 



358 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

fest depreciation of the lawyers of the old States is to be attrib- 
uted to the exodus to the more attractive fields of our young 
men. Brains have not long to wait for employment in the Ter- 
ritories; they are in constant demand, and always at a premi- 
um. Money goes a great way, but it can not forever buy me- 
diocrity into office. There are too many competitors for the 
prizes, and in fact too much capital in the hands of able men 
to give an inferior man a superior chance. No doubt money 
decides many a contest, but the winner is nearly always fit to 
fill the place he secures. As the opportunities for wealth in- 
crease with the chances for preferment, you may prepare for a 
new rush to the Territories without parallel. We are, in fact, 
in the mere infancy of development. Marvelous as the con- 
trast is between the present and the past, it is as nothing to the 
contrast between the present and the near future. Our prog- 
ress has many opulent worlds to redeem and some to conquer 
from our neighbors. Men like Senators Nye and Stewart, of 
Nevada, Governor Evans, of Colorado, Governor McCormick, 
of Arizona, Ben HoUiday, of Oregon, and W. C. Rallston, of 
California, fortunate and honored as they are, will be succeed- 
ed by intellects as marked, and by success as brilliant ; and 
most of us will live to see it for ourselves, and to realize that, 
however heavy the reinforcements, there is room enough and 
reward enough for all. 

[October 6, 1872.] 



LXXXI. 

Now we add to the catalogue of the suddenly called the 
name of the beloved William Prescott Smith, of Baltimore, who 
died last Tuesday evening, October i, in his forty-eighth year. 
It seems only yesterday that I rode with him to Philadelphia, 



WILLIAM PRESCOTT SMITH. 359 

the time passing swiftly under the influence of his pathos and 
humor. I can recall no character that filled a larger space with 
brighter gifts. He was in every respect an original man, a 
combination and a form indeed of most diversified • qualities. 
For many years identified with the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 
and lately recalled to an important position in its management, 
he was as accurate in his business aptitudes as he was genial 
in social and literary circles. Successful alike in his dealings 
with the stern chiefs of great enterprises, he was beloved by all 
his associates and subordinates, and when he turned from work, 
to rest from his official duties, to books and the fine arts, he was 
a companion for scholars and statesmen. Nature had endowed 
him with a rarely handsome form and features. His manners 
were unusually fascinating ; his tastes were cultivated and re- 
fined j his memory acute and tenacious ; his knowledge of men 
most thorough. Modest and retiring, he bore himself like a 
prince in every presence. His ambition seemed to be to make 
others happy. In society always a universal favorite, and in- 
vited every where, his wit shone and sparkled, but never stung. 
He had no enmities and few enemies, never mixed in politics, 
and conciliated the affection and confidence of most antagonist- 
ic elements. His genius was as marked in the hard attritions 
of railroad competition as in the skill with which he invented 
the means of intellectual enjoyment. To soften asperities, to 
smooth the pathway of life, to befriend the distressed, and to 
help forward poor young men, these were his chosen ambitions. 
His mind was instinctively elevated, and when he threw off his 
daily cares it was surprising to note the variety and purity of 
his comic talent. Who that ever witnessed his imitations and 
his burlesques can recall one that approached vulgarity ? I re- 
member our voyage across the Atlantic, our rambles through 
England, and our experiences in France ; how fresh and ever- 
renewing his fun; how vivid his perceptions; how full and ripe 
his knowledge as he reviewed it in the famous historical places ; 



360 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

and how, when he longed for home, he would brighten the 
gloom with some fitting story, or mimic one of the many odd 
foreigners around us. He was naturally considerate and un- 
selfish, and his deafness made me always anxious to amuse him 
by that which pleased his eye ; but he would anticipate me by 
taking tickets for the theatre or the lecture-room, and, though 
he could scarcely hear a word, would appear to enjoy himself 
like others. He had a habit of ridiculing politicians by making 
speeches in which he would travestie their manners and make 
them express thoughts exactly opposite to their own. No com- 
edy ever surpassed these capital scenes, and when he had his 
friends around him at his own house, he delighted to surprise 
them by some entertainment, always novel and yet always point- 
ed with a moral. Who can ever forget his Washington's Fare- 
well Address in the Revolutionary costume of the Father of his 
Country ? It was a composition worthy of Boucicault or Dick- 
ens. These and his books were the pleasures of his leisure 
hours. And now our friend, so full of health and hope only a 
few days ago, is laid away among his fathers. Lost to us his 
beaming smile, his splendid form, his grace, his courtesy, his 
flowing humor, his gentleness, and his generosity ; every thing 
gone but their memory, which will live long in the hearts of 
thousands who were made happy by his own happy nature, and 
better by a native toleration and affection at once impartial and 
sincere. 

[October 6, 1872.] 



LXXXII. 

Presidential elections are proverbially uncertain until the 
October contests are decided, and many conflicting hopes are 
entertained by rival parties. The exultation of the victors and 



PRESIDENTIAL CONTESTS. 36 1 

the disappointment of the vanquished are naturally extreme. 
Never shall I forget the exciting struggle in 1844, when James 
K. Polk defeated Henry Clay. The rejoicing of the Democrats 
and the agony of the Whigs of Philadelphia were literally ter- 
rific. Francis R. Shunk had been elected Governor of Penn- 
sylvania in the previous October by a small majority, and the 
struggle in November was intense. Immense sums were haz- 
arded by the betting men ; but when the October fiat was pro- 
nounced in Pennsylvania, the verdict in November was decided. 
It also practically decided the fate of the Whigs as a party. 
Mr. Clay was regarded as so far superior to Mr. Polk that the 
triumph of the latter was accepted as the recognition of a mere 
politician and the degradation of a great statesman. The Ken- 
tuckian never recovered from it. His real chance was lost in 
1840, when Harrison was elected over Van Buren, and I was 
not surprised at his violence after his party had preferred a 
military availability, so graphically described by Henry A. Wise 
in his biography of John Tyler, just published by J. B. Lippin- 
cott. There was no actual contest in 1848, for the Democrats, 
were divided between Cass and Van Buren, and General Tay- 
lor had an easy time of it. In 1852 the Whigs made their last 
Stand as a party. Having set Mr. Clay aside in 1844, they ig- 
nored Webster for Scott in 1852, and broke the heart of the 
great New-Englander. Pierce literally walked over the course, 
aided by hosts of angry Whigs. But in 1856 the old fires were 
relighted. The Republicans came on the stage that year in 
great force, openly flying the banner of anti-slavery, and they 
would have won but for the pledges of the Democratic candi- 
date of justice to Kansas. The October fight in 1856 in Penn- 
sylvania decided the Presidency. The Democratic majority 
was small, but it did the work in November. In i860 there 
was again not much of a struggle, for there was a hopeless di- 
vision among the Democrats, who from that time began to grow 
weaker and weaker, until their folly ripened into the rebellion. 

Q 



362 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

That overthrown, the drama was soon ended. Their single 
hope of recovery, after General Grant's inevitable re-election, is 
to accept Republican ideas in full, and to earn the confidence 
of the country by long and honest devotion to them. 

Equanimity in defeat is as pleasant, and yet as difficult to 
exercise, as magnanimity in victory. A good story is told of 
the veteran Major Noah, of New York, who, after having been 
several times chosen to a valuable local office, lost renomina- 
tion and ran as a stump candidate, and was badly beaten. His 
negro man, not realizing the event, and not understanding that 
the groans of the nocturnal visitors to the Major's mansion 
were any different from their cheers of former times when they 
came to congratulate him on his triumph, rushed to his master's 
study, exclaiming, " The boys are at the door, and want to see 
you." "Give them my respects, Sam," was the good-natured 
reply, "and tell them they have left the Democratic party." 
Mr. Clay once sarcastically announced to Van Buren, while the 
latter was Vice-President, a great Whig triumph, upon which 
Van Buren left the chair, and, walking to the Kentucky Sena- 
tor's seat, took a pinch of snuff out of his box, and then drew 
himself up directly in front of him and heard him through. I 
saw Judge Douglas in the House of Representatives in Febru- 
ary of 1 86 1, while the electoral votes were being counted, an- 
nouncing his defeat and Lincoln's election, and could not suffi- 
ciently admire his honho7iiie and wit. It was a period of painr 
ful suspense. Breckinridge, as Vice-President, was president 
of the convention of the two houses, and had himself been de- 
feated for the first office in the nation. Many of the Southern 
Senators and members had left their seats in advance of the 
formal act of secession, and some of those who remained were 
glowering over the constitutional act of recording the vote of 
the people in favor of the abolitionist, Abraham Lincoln. They 
had a special hatred of Douglas, whose refusal to yield to Breck- 
inridge had given the election to Lincoln ; but how well he bore 



"stop my paper!" 363 

himself, how jovially, how easily, none but those who saw him 
can conceive. Hate and distrust around him — the hate of the 
Democrats and the distrust of the Republicans ; but through 
all he bore himself like the truly great man he was. In six 
months he was in his grave. 

[October 14, 1872.] 



LXXXIII. 

During the exciting contest led by the Philadelphia Press 
against James Buchanan's Administration, I was invited on the 
evening of October 28, 1858, to speak in the beautiful city of 
Camden, New Jersey. My audience was large, and my recep- 
tion cordial. The Press had attained a considerable circulation 
in Camden, and a great majority of all parties sympathized with 
me in my somewhat hazardous and independent stand. 

The following passage from my speech I take from The Press 
the next day, October 29, 1858 : 

" Now, gendemen, I have a most melancholy announcement 
to make. It is that the newspaper The Press is stopped — my 
Press is stopped. [Sensation.] I did not expect, in coming 
here, to be compelled to make this sorrowful announcement, 
but it is nevertheless the fact. The Press is stopped, not the 
establishment, but the single copy which the President of the 
United States takes — it is stopped. [Long-continued shouts 
of laughter.] I suppose I shall survive it. [Renewed laugh- 
ter.] I have no doubt I shall survive it. But it was a terrible 
blow. I do not think ever two cents created so much havoc 
before. But we shall recover ; we shall get over it. And now 
for the bright part of the story : I shall receive in a few days 
almost the only dollar that I have ever received from the Fed- 
eral Administration — which will be about $7 50 in payment of 



364 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

The Press. [Laughter.] We see that this proscription runs 
from great to small. It attacks a popular tribune, and it strikes 
down a newspaper. It turns out a postmaster, and it refuses to 
pay two cents to an independent journal. 

" ' To such base uses must we come at last.' 

" Thus we see the Administration of the Federal Government, 
presiding over thirty millions of people, with all its vast patron- 
age, with all its great power, forgetting all its duties and all its 
pledges, and becoming a party to the petty proscriptions which 
village politicians would despise, and which honorable men 
would laugh at. [Applause.] 

"When this Administration policy was first announced, I said, 
in The Press, that the effect would be to disgrace the party, un- 
less the party should repudiate it ; and, in the next place, to de- 
feat hundreds of men who would be put upon Democratic tick- 
ets, not having had any thing to do with the betrayal. Such 
has been the result. Many and many a glorious Democrat, 
placed upon the Democratic ticket, has been sent to obscurity 
because the opposition party has risen against the mistakes of 
the Federal Administration, and because the Democratic party, 
through the conventions of its office-holders, has been committed 
to these mistakes and pledged to support them as a portion of 
the party duty. 

"You have seen how this petty proscription has extended 
itself to citizens of your own vicinity. I need not mention 
names ; they are all famiHar to you. But it is well that it is 
so ; it is better that it is so — it is a great deal better. We have 
had a trial that has done us all good. It has taught all parties 
that the day for betraying public opinion and for violating sol- 
emn pledges has gone. You will have no more traitors. The 
men who go to Congress now, if they desire to live and to die 
respected, will stand by the pledges which they make." 

This transaction proved not so much the prejudice of my old 
friend, Buchanan, as it did his littleness ; and now, in the new 



WILLIAM M. SWAIN. 



365 



and difficult path I am treading, I quote the example of 1858 
to show how history repeats itself in 1872. That remarkable 
man, remarkable in almost every sense, the lamented William 
M. Swain, one of the proprietors and founders of the Public 
Ledger, always liked to relate the incident from which I took 
the idea that excited the risibilities of my Camden audience. 
The story is so much better told by my friend J. D. Stockton, 
of the Philadelphia Mor7iiiig Post, that I use his words : 

" By his course in regard to some public matter he had of- 
fended a number of his readers, one of whom met him on Chest- 
nut Street, and thus accosted him : 

" ' Mr. Swain, I've stopped The Ledger' 

"'What is that, sir?' 

" ' I've stopped The Ledger,' was the stern reply. 

" ' Great heavens !' said Mr. Swain ; ' my dear sir, that won't 
do. Come with me to the office. This must be looked into.' 
And taking the man with him, he entered the office at Third 
and Chestnut Streets. There they found the clerks busy at 
their desks ; then they ascended to the editorial-rooms and the 
composing-rooms, where all was as usual ; finally, they de- 
scended to the press-rooms, where the engineers were at work. 

" ' I thought you told me you had stopped The Ledger,' said 
Mr. Swain. 

" ' So I have,' said the offended subscriber. 

" ' I don't see the stoppage. The Ledger seems to be going 
on." 

" ' Oh ! I mean to say— that is, that 7— ah — had stopped tak- 
ing it.' 

"'Is that all!' exclaimed Mr. Swain. 'Why, my dear sir, 
you don't know how you alarmed me. As for your individual 
subscription, I care very little. Good-day, sir, and never make 
such rash assertions again.' " 



;^66 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



LXXXIV. 

Henry Wikoff, better known as " the Chevalier," was born 
in Philadelphia, where he studied law and was admitted to 
the bar. He must now be over sixty, though his adventures 
would indicate him to be a much older man. He is living in 
London at present, and is still a devoted adherent of Louis 
Napoleon, who has retired with Eugene and the Prince Impe- 
rial to Chiselhurst, some twelve miles from that great metrop- 
olis. Chevalier Wikoff is one of his constant attendants and 
friends. His devotion to Louis Napoleon began more than a 
quarter of a century ago. He visited him when he was a pris- 
oner at the Castle of Ham, in 1845, three years before he was 
made President of France, and wrote a " biography and per- 
sonal recollections " of him in 1849. Very near him when he 
became Emperor, he enjoyed large advantages during the brill- 
iant era between the cot/p d'etat of 185 1 and the flight after the 
fall of Sedan, in 1870. Once more an exile, Louis Napoleon 
has no more devoted supporter than Wikoff. A characteristic 
of this citizen of the world is his attachment to celebrated peo- 
ple. His early relations with Fanny Elssler, marked by a bit- 
ter quarrel with James Gordon Bennett, of the New York Her- 
ald^ closed in the warmest friendship with the veteran journalist, 
which remained unbroken down to his death. 

You might travel a long way before meeting a more pleasant 
companion than the cosmopolite Wikoff. He has seen more 
of the world than most men, has mingled with society of every 
shade and grade, has tasted of poverty and affluence, talks sev- 
eral languages fluently, is skilled in etiquette, art, and literature, 
and, without proclaimed convictions, is a shrewd politician, who 
understands the motives and opinions of others. He has writ- 
ten several books in addition to the biography of his idol, Louis 
Napoleon, including his strange experience with Miss Gamble, 



HENRY WIKOFF. 367 

entitled " My Courtship and its Consequences," " The Advent- 
ures of a Roving Diplomatist," "A New-Yorker in the Foreign 
Office, and his Adventures in Paris." Here we have the photo- 
graphs of his life. From these we realize how such a character 
would entertain an editor like Bennett, a statesman like Buchan- 
an, a monarch like Louis Napoleon. Ranging through all socie- 
ty, he can talk of love, law, literature, and war ; can describe the 
rulers and thinkers of his time, can gossip of courts and cabi- 
nets, of the boudoir and the salon, of commerce and the Church, 
of the peer and the pauper, of Dickens and Thackeray, of Vic- 
tor Hugo and Louis Blanc, of Lamartine and Laboulaye, of 
Garibaldi and the Pope, of Lincoln and Stanton, of Buchanan 
and Pierce, of the North and the South, of the opera and the 
theatre, of General Sickles and Tammany Hall, and of the inner 
life of almost any capital in the world. With such gifts, aided 
by an air disfmgiie, a fine address and a manner after the En- 
glish model, Wikoff has the e?itree in many circles which higher 
intellect and deservings can never penetrate. 

Wikoff's diplomacy was never better illustrated than in mak- 
ing James Gordon Bennett and James Buchanan friends. Ben- 
nett had taken great dislike to Buchanan, and opposed his 
election in 1856 with unsparing severity. Never was The Her- 
ald more sarcastic. Every paragraph told ; every sentence 
touched the sensitive nerve ; and when the fight was over, and 
Mr. Buchanan was successful, the rejoicing was not less general 
because it was supposed that Bennett had been annihilated. 
But now Wikoff began to operate. He knew how much Bu- 
chanan feared a great newspaper, especially an independent 
one like The Herald, and he soon convinced Buchanan that it 
would be fortunate if he could secure The Herald 2a a supporter 
of his Administration. I do not think any consideration was 
named, for, whatever may be said of Mr. Bennett, he accepted 
no office while he was a journalist, though it is known that more 
than once high position was tendered to him. At all events. 



368 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN, 

The Herald changed tack promptly and gracefully, and WikofF 
was ever after a welcome visitor at the White House. The 
Presidential mind was set at ease, until the Kansas war broke 
out, when The Herald faithfully represented public opinion, and 
warned the Administration of the folly of its course. 

Count d'Orsay was evidently Wikoff's ideal, and the two men 
were much alike. It was d'Orsay that effected the interview 
between Louis Napoleon and Wikoff in 1845. The following 
extract from the opening pages of Wikoff's book, describing 
this visit, is interesting, as it is a fair specimen of the style of the 
Chevalier, and a fair portrait of the titled exquisite he tries to 
imitate. This passage is not less curious because Wikoff is 
just now the courteous intermediary between Louis Napoleon, 
ex-Emperor, and such Americans as desire to pay him their 
respects in his retreat at Chiselhurst : 

" In passing from Philadelphia to New York, in the summer 
of 1845, j^st previous to my departure for Europe, I stopped at 
the princely residence of the late Joseph Bonaparte (near Bor- 
dentown), ex-King of Spain, to make 7Jies adieiix to its present 
owner, the young Prince de Musignano, who, having inherited 
this, along with other valuable property in this country, from 
his grandfather, had just arrived from Italy to take possession. 

" The few brief hours to which I was limited sped rapidly in 
the gay society of my affable host and his intelligent compan- 
ion, M. Maillard, and we had barely time to glance at the num- 
berless and splendid objects of art and curiosity which embel- 
lished this luxurious mansion, when a servant announced the 
approach of the New York train. 

" As I was hurrying away the Prince remarked, ' You are go- 
ing to France ; why not make an effort to see my unfortunate 
cousin, Prince Louis ? He will be glad, I am sure, to meet an 
old acquaintance, and I should be delighted, on your return, to 
receive personal tidings of his health, which, I am distressed to 
learn, is sadly deranged by his imprisonment. If you should 



COUNT D'ORSAY. 369 

succeed, tell him * * ^ And say, also, that my best wishes 
are with him.' 

"I relate this simple circumstance because it explains in a 
word why I formed a resolution on the instant to get an interior 
view of the Citadel of Ham, if such an enterprise should prove 
at all compatible with the very rigid notions of political seclu- 
sion entertained by Louis Philippe and his Ministers. During 
my stay in London I mentioned my project to several friends 
of Prince Louis, who thought the idea rather quixotic, as the 
Government suffered no relations of any sort to be kept up with 
the lone captive of Ham. The late well-known refusal to al- 
low one of his family, sojourning by permission for a few days 
at Paris, to visit him, was suggested as a proof of the impracti- 
cability, if not absurdity, of my hopes. There was one individ- 
ual, however, whose views were more sanguine, and I was nat- 
urally more inclined to coincide with him. But there were bet- 
ter reasons still to rely on, whatever advice he gave. I am 
speaking of the far-famed Count Alfred d'Orsay, whose reputa- 
tion is spread over the fashionable world of Europe and Ameri- 
ca, but whose real merits soar much beyond the frivolous ac- 
complishments which have given him such wide celebrity. To 
be celebrated at all, no matter by what means, be they high or 
low, elevated or vulgar, talent I consider is indispensable ; and 
to obtain the social position held at one epoch by a Beau Brum- 
mel, and, at a later, by a Count d'Orsay, nothing short of men- 
tal superiority of a high cast is requisite. This idea is fully sup- 
ported, at all events, in the present instance, for I have seldom, 
in any rank of life, or among the higher grades of employment, 
encountered intellectual qualities of rarer excellence than those 
which distinguish a man chiefly known in the light of a vain 
' carpet knight.' An elegant and fascinating man of the world 
he undoubtedly is. An adept in dress, easy in manners, ac- 
complished in the conventions of the drawing-room — a science 
apart, made up of the dictates of good-breeding and the require- 

Q.2 



370 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

ments of etiquette — fertile in conversation, and of brilliant wit, 
the Count d'Orsay is certainly well-qualified to realize our vis- 
ionary ideas of that paragon of whom the poet dscribes as ' the 
glass of fashion and the mould of form.' Those, however, are 
rather the endowments which would secure him pre-eminence 
in the land of his birth ; for France \spar excellence the land of 
society, and to succeed there, grace of manner and charms of 
mind are indispensable. But in England the case is very dif- 
ferent ; and Count d'Orsay, with all his savoir faire, would nev- 
er have reached the position he has held for so many years un- 
rivaled, without an equal skill and proficiency in those ruder 
but still manly accomplishments which constitute the basis of 
his English popularity. The best rider, the most daring sports- 
man, the skillful bettor, the inimitable shot, the unrivaled spar- 
rer, these are the merits towering in English eyes, and which 
have made his name in England so long familiar as a household 
word. Of later years, abandoning these grosser occupations, 
he has, with that well-poised efibrt which never falls short of 
its mark, and which explains his marvelous success in all he 
has undertaken, given himself wholly up to art, and his produc- 
tions in painting and statuary have already thrown the world of 
taste in commotion, and are building him a reputation which, if 
less sounding than that he has hitherto enjoyed, is infinitely more 
enviable. But to me the attractive feature of Count d'Orsay's 
character has always been what the promiscuous world he lives 
in knows nothing about, and that is, his cultivated and aspiring 
intellect, which, in depth and keenness, is adequate to the com- 
prehension of the grandest questions, and capable of estimating 
them accurately in their nicest details. His knowledge of men 
and things is extensive and rare, and his criticisms overflow 
with point ^nd finesse. It is little imagined by the giddy crowd 
around him, whose dullness is enlivened by his wit, that the 
showy man of fashion is a studious thinker and a careful writer, 
and that the moments of leisure, stolen from the gay dissipa- 



HENRY WIKOFF. 37 1 

tions of the London world, have been devoted to the record of 
his impressions on life, numbering some seven volumes of man- 
uscript. Their merit may be inferred from the glowing praise 
bestowed by Lord Byron on his traveling journal, written when 
only twenty years of age. In a word. Count d'Orsay may be 
esteemed beyond comparison the Admirable Crichton of the day, 
and I have cheerfully allowed myself to run into this digression 
concerning this remarkable person, as so enviable a chance 
may never offer to give the result of many years' observation 
of a character variously interpreted and little understood.' " 

Men have different tastes. Some aspire to wealth, some to 
high office, some to scientific fame, and others to excellence in 
works of charity ; but Wikoff is only happy in the society of the 
cultivated and the powerful. He is the Boswell of our day, 
who prefers to bask in the fame of others rather than in the 
milder radiance of his own. He must not be called mercenary. 
Unlike the favorites that were sunned and ripened in the smiles 
of Louis Napoleon, he sticks to the unfortunate Emperor. He 
clung to General Sickles in his darkest hour, and though he 
sturdily stood by James Gordon Bennett, the rich man, he was 
also one of his most industrious correspondents. But he never 
quarrels with power if he can get on peacefully. Politics make 
no difference with him. He was just as friendly with Lincoln 
as with Buchanan, and did Mr. Seward's work as faithfully as 
that of Louis Napoleon. One of his mottoes is never to adopt 
the enmities of others, but to make life pleasant, and to culti- 
vate kindly relations with " all the world and the rest of man- 
kind," as President Taylor said with awkward benevolence in 
his first and last message to Congress. 

[October 27, 1872.] 



372 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



LXXXV. 



What a mine of incident is such a life as that of William H. 
Seward ! He dies at a time when at least one of his theories 
is practicalized. He has been pleading for reconciliation for 
a long time, and he dies in the midst of reconciliation. The 
advanced anti-slavery leader, he has always been one of the 
most moderate and conciliatory of men. In 1860-61, after Mr. 
Lincoln's election, Mr. Seward was distinguished for his efforts 
to keep the peace between the sections. The Southern men 
were violent. Wigfall thundered his anathemas ; Slidell was 
satirical ; Toombs was threatening ; Mason was dictatorial — 
but, obedient to Mr. Seward's counsel, the Republicans, having 
won the administration of the Government, were generally si- 
lent. Andrew Johnson, a Democrat, broke the bonds in De- 
cember of i860, and again in February of 186 1, and bold Ben 
Wade, of Ohio, answered the South in the fiercest rhetoric. 
Mr. Lincoln surprised every body by a visit to the Hall of Con- 
gress on the 23d or 24th of February, 1861, in company with 
Mr. Seward, then known to be his Secretary of State, and the 
exceeding mildness of his inaugural address — the succeeding 
inauguration speech of March 4 — was undoubtedly inspired by 
Mr. Seward's counsel. He knew at an early date that Mr. 
Lincoln's life was threatened ; he had a full foretaste of the 
conspiracy which, four years after, in April of 1865, killed Mr. 
Lincoln and came near killing himself; and his effort was to 
ward off the blow that finally and fatally fell. It is a curious 
comment on the times that the most generous and magnanimous 
men of the first real Republican administration of the Govern- 
ment should have been the first official victims of the pro-slav- 
ery fanatics. Had Lincoln lived, the whole current of legisla- 
tion would have been different. I am disposed to believe that 
his death did not force more vigorous measures, though Andrew 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 373 

Johnson was a sad supplement in himself. He offered much, 
and lost all, to the South, and he made a rigid reconstruction 
so necessary that even the men who complain of it most no 
longer deny that it was justified. 

I heard an anecdote of Mr. Seward's patient temperament a 
few days ago that deserves mention. In June of 1856, after 
Preston S. Brooks committed his brutal assault on Charles 
Sumner, Mrs. Seward was exceedingly anxious for the safety 
of her husband, and advised him to protect himself. "Well, 
my dear," was the answer, " what shall I do ? I am a man of 
peace ; I never reply to personal attacks; how am I to defend 
myself.^ Shall I go to the Senate with a musket or rifle on my 
shoulder ? If I use pistols, I am sure you will not ask me to 
shoot anybody without notice. You say no. Well, then, it 
will be my duty, if I carry revolvers, to lay them on my Sena- 
torial desk, so that all men may see that I am ready to kill any- 
body at a moment's notice. I think this .is my best weapon," 
he said, as he closed the interview, and picked up the whip he 
carried as a sort of metaphorical help to the old horse that car- 
ried him to the Capitol. 

He goes hence to the mysterious world, while Thurlow Weed, 
his devoted chief, is dying, and while the house of Horace Gree- 
ley, his early advocate, is stricken with unspeakable woe. So 
the "human ocean" moves on. Like the eternal sea itself, its 
current is perpetual, though millions live on its bosom and per- 
ish in its depths. 

[November 3, 1872.] 



LXXXVI. 



I MET, a few days ago, one of the members of the House 
of Representatives of the Thirty-fourth Congress, and together 
we talked over the exciting session during which, as Clerk 



374 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

of the old House, I officiated as presiding officer when the new 
body was preparing to organize. It was a long and angry 
struggle, and from December 2, 1855, to February 2, 1856, I 
played Speaker to the best of my ability, receiving, when the 
contest closed, the unanimous thanks of the House, and double 
the Speaker's pay. My friend Horace Greeley was the chief 
correspondent of the New York Tribime^ and at first severely 
criticised me because he thought I was a prejudiced partisan ; 
but, as the fight progressed, he discarded his suspicions and 
stood by me to the end, going so far, in 1857, as to ask Presi- 
dent Buchanan, in an editorial article, to put me in his Cabinet 
— a compliment, by the way, which I had the honor to recipro- 
cate four years after, in i860, when Mr. Lincoln wrote me a let- 
ter of thanks for my opposition to the Buchanan Administra- 
tion, in reply to which I suggested Horace Greeley for his 
Postmaster -General. Mr. Lincoln had already selected Mr. 
Seward for the State Department. In his answer to my rec- 
ommendation he paid Mr. Greeley as high a compliment as 
one great man could pay to another. Many of those who fig- 
ured in that trying period in Congress have gone to their rest, 
while the survivors have met strange vicissitudes. Sixteen 
years have wrought curious results. Howell Cobb, of Georgia ; 
Anson Burlingame, of Massachusetts ; Henry Winter Davis, 
of Maryland ; Henry M. Fuller, of Pennsylvania, are in their 
graves. They were men of mark, far above the common level, 
and were early called. Governor Cobb was worn out by the 
rebellion, in which he took an active part ; Burlingame died in 
the midst of an extraordinary diplomatic career ; Davis, the 
most incisive and brilliant orator of his time, passed off in the 
zenith of his fame; and Fuller left a mourning family and a 
host of devoted friends at a time when the future seemed bright 
before him. Of the living, the most distinguished are John 
Hickman, of Pennsylvania ; Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia ; 
N. P. Banks, of Massachusetts; James L. Orr, of South Caro- 



ELECTION OF SPEAKER. 375 

lina ; E. B. Washburne, of Illinois (now American Minister to 
France); Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana (Vice-President); John 
Sherman, now Senator in Congress from Ohio; and Francis 
E. Spinner, of New York, present United States Treasurer. 
The whole time from December to February was consumed in 
ineffectual ballotings to elect a Speaker, and in discursive de- 
bate, involving the issues of the day and every conceivable sub- 
ject. Parties were closely balanced, the Know-Nothings or 
Americans holding the balance of power; but, as they were not 
united, no decision could be reached until Congress and the 
country were fairly worn out by the weary conflict. Finally 
Hon. Samuel A. Smith, a Democrat, from Tennessee, on Satur- 
day, the 2d of February, offered the following resolution, which 
was adopted by a vote of 1 13 to 104 : 

'''' Resolved^'Y\i2i\. this House will proceed immediately to the 
election of a Speaker, viva voce. If, after the roll shall have 
been called three times, no member shall have received a ma- 
jority of all the votes cast, the roll shall again be called, and 
the member who shall then receive the largest vote, provided 
it be a majority of a quorum, shall be declared duly elected 
Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Thirty-fourth 
Congress." 

This brought the protracted struggle to a close. Several ef- 
forts were made to repeal it. Hon. Percy Walker, of Alabama, 
one of the Know-Nothing leaders, saw that Mr. Smith's resolu- 
tion looked to the election of a Republican Speaker, and made 
every effort to rescind it. As we were not acting under any 
rules, and a good deal of the work before the House had to de- 
pend on the common-sense of the Chair, I decided that his motion 
to rescind the resolution was in order, rather to let him see that I 
was impartial than to show my tenacity in adherence to Parlia- 
mentary law. An appeal was taken, and, as I expected, my de- 
cision was overruled. Then came the vote on the resolution 
itself, and on the 133d ballot, after a two months' fight, N. P. 



376 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Banks v/as chosen Speaker on a plurality. The practice in 
former years had been for the House to adopt a resolution de- 
claring the Speaker who had received a majority of the votes 
to be elected ; but I saw that such action would reopen the 
question, and would force the House to another vote, perhaps 
into a revolution, and, by consulting the tellers, who represent- 
ed both parties, we determined to declare Banks elected, with- 
out any reference to the House. A scene of the wildest confu- 
sion ensued. I was denounced in unsparing terms, and Mr. A. 
K. Marshall, of Kentucky, took the ground that I had trans- 
cended precedent. I quote the following from the official pro- 
ceedings in The Globe : 

Mr. Marshall, of Kentucky. " I ask now, in connection with 
the remarks which I have made, whether the gentleman who 
now acts as Clerk of this House [Mr. Forney], and who has 
presided with so much fairness and so much dignity, and with- 
out having assumed the exercise of any right which was not 
clearly and legitimately his, who has refused on questions of 
order to give any decision — I ask that gentleman if he will 
now, on this great and vital question, dare — ah! that is the 
word — whether he will dare, in the absence of all official power, 
to induct into that chair a man who has not received a majority 
of the votes of this body ? If he does, I will, for one, have to 
change much of the high opinion which I have and still hold 
for that honorable gentleman." 

The Clerk (Mr. Forney). " The gentleman from Ohio will 
permit the Clerk to make a few words of explanation. The 
House adopted a resolution to-day providing in terms that at a 
certain stage a plurality vote should govern. The Clerk will 
say to the gentleman from Kentucky that if he has any feeling 
in this canvass it is not certainly in favor of the gentleman 
from Massachusetts. The course was pursued according to the 
terms of the resolution, which it was thought was the proper 
one. The Clerk was actuated by no motives but those of a de- 



ELECTION OF SPEAKER. 377 

sire to continue to be impartial. He consulted with the officers 
of the House, who are older and better acquainted with the du- 
ties of this station than himself. He also consulted with the 
gentlemen who are tellers, and who represent the two great 
parties respectively. The consultation resulted in this conclu- 
sion. If there is error in the matter he throws himself on the 
indulgence of the House, trusting that the gentlemen who have 
sustained him thus far will carry him through the question 
which is now about to be settled." 

Mr. Campbell, of Ohio. " Mr. Clerk, from the beginning I 
have held that a Speaker ought to be elected by a majority vote, 
and I now submit it to the honor of those gentlemen who voted 
for the plurality rule, whether it does not become them now to 
carry out that rule and end the struggle that has been disgrace- 
ful to us and the country. I have heard a great deal about the 
danger of a dissolution of the Union. What ! Has it come to 
this, that the election of any man can dissolve this glorious 
Union ? [Applause.] I do not care what may be the senti- 
ments of the gentleman who is to preside over our delibera- 
tions; I shall be found one of the foremost in assailing him if 
he dares to do any thing that would separate the Union of these 
States. 

" It would seem that the gentleman from Kentucky has taken 
the Union under his particular charge. Sir, I think that there 
are those of us in the free States who will be found to the last 
for the union of these States. I am an American. I am for 
the Constitution of my country as the highest law which is to 
control our political action, and for the union of these States 
under any circumstances that may surround us. If I thought 
that my heart was capable of cherishing a sentiment that would 
tend to a disruption of this Union, I would, if I could, tear it 
out and cast it to the dogs." 

Mr. Clingman. " I have the floor now to say a few words. 
I was endeavoring to get it when the gentleman from Ohio rose, 



378 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

and as soon as the point of order was raised. I anticipated 
something of this early in the session ; and when I spoke of 
going for the plurality rule, the question was frequently put to 
me by gentlemen upon the other side, whether, if that rule was 
adopted, I would then vote for such a resolution as was adopted 
in 1849. I replied that I regarded no such resolution as neces- 
sary, because the previous resolution was sufficient — that it was 
the act of a majority of the House. That was the opinion I 
then entertained, and hold the same opinion now. The reso- 
lution declares that the person who receives the highest number 
of votes shall be Speaker. The tellers merely announce who 
has that vote, and I entertain the opinion that the gentleman 
from Massachusetts can take his seat under the resolution ; that 
was and is now my opinion. But I saw that if the plurality 
rule were resorted to, whether or not you could pass a resolu- 
tion declaring the gentleman who received the highest number 
of votes for Speaker would depend upon its phraseology. I say 
now to the gentleman from Ohio, and to others, that if a resolu- 
tion shall be offered declaring that the gentleman from Massa- 
chusetts has been elected Speaker by virtue of that plurality 
resolution, if they think it necessary, I will vote for it." 

Mr. Cobb, of Georgia. "Allusion has been made to what 
occurred here at the time that I was elected Speaker of this 
House; and as I differ with some of my friends with reference 
to their construction of what was done then, and what is neces- 
sary to be done now, and as I may be called upon to vote upon 
some resolution connected with this matter, I desire to place 
myself right before the House, and to give the reasons for the 
vote which I shall give. In 1849, when it was determined to 
adopt the plurality rule, it was assailed as violative of the Con- 
stitution. In order to avoid any difficulty upon that subject it 
was, by general consent among those who were in favor of it, 
agreed that a resolution should be offered affirming the election, 
and that was done. At the time, occupying the position that I 



N. P. BANKS ELECTED. 379 

did, I was asked the question, ' Whether, in my opinion, it was 
necessary that this should be done ?' I gave the same opinion 
then that I entertain now, and that I have repeatedly given 
when asked the question during this canvass ; and I feel it due 
to candor now to state it. I hold that it is necessary for a ma- 
jority of this House to elect a Speaker; but I hold, at the same 
time, that a majority of this House adopting the plurality rule, 
where a plurality vote is cast for any member, he is elected by 
virtue of the resolution originally adopted by a majority of the 
House. [Applause.] 

" When, sir, it was thought there was a probability that the 
gentleman for whom I voted would be elected, I gave that opin- 
ion then. I also gave it to those on the other side of the House 
who thought proper to ask my opinion upon the subject. I en- 
tertain no doubt in reference to it. Therefore I can not agree 
with either of my friends from Kentucky that it is incumbent 
upon those who voted for the plurality rule to perfect the election 
of Mr. Banks by a resolution. I think Mr. Banks has already 
been elected. My friends upon this floor know that I have 
appealed to them from the commencement of this struggle." 
Mr. Wheeler. " I offer the following resolution : 
" ''Resolved, That the Hon. Wm. Aiken, of South Carolina ; the 
Hon. Henry M. Fuller, of Pennsylvania ; and the Hon. Lewis D. 
Campbell, of Ohio, be appointed a committee to wait upon the 
Hon. Nathaniel P. Banks, Jr., of Massachusetts, the Speaker 
elect, and conduct him to the chair.' " 

Mr. Giddings. " I hope that resolution will not be adopted. 
It is an innovation on the whole past practice of the House. 
The Clerk always appoints a committee to conduct the Speaker 
to the chair." 

Mr. Wheeler. "I wididraw the resolution." 
" The Clerk then requested Messrs. Fuller, of Pennsylvania, 
Aiken, of South Carolina, and Campbell, of Ohio, to conduct 
the Speaker elect to the chair. 



380 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

" The gentlemen designated proceeded to discharge this duty, 
and Mr. Banks was thereupon conducted to the chair, and took 
his seat. 

"After a moment's pause the Speaker rose and addressed 
the House as follows : 

" Gentlemen of the House of Representatives : Before 
I proceed to complete my acceptance of the office to which I 
am elected, I avail myself of your indulgence to express my 
acknowledgments for the honor conferred upon me. It would 
afford me far greater pleasure in taking the chair of the House 
were I supported even by the self-assurance that I could bring 
to the discharge of its duties, always arduous and delicate, and 
now environed with unusual difficulties, any capacity commen- 
surate with their responsibility and dignity. I can only say 
that, in so far as I am able, I shall discharge my duty with fidel- 
ity to the Constitution, and with impartiality as it regards the 
rights of members. I have no personal objects to accomplish. 
I am animated by the single desire that I may in some degree 
aid in maintaining the well-established principles of our Govern- 
ment in their original and American signification ; in developing 
the material interests of that portion of the continent we occupy, 
so far as we may do within the limited and legitimate powers 
conferred upon us; in enlarging and swelling the capacity of 
our Government for beneficent influences at home and abroad ; 
and, above all, in preserving intact and in perpetuity the price- 
less privileges transmitted to us. I am, of course, aware that I 
can not hope of my own strength to be equal to the perfect ex- 
ecution of the duties I now assume. I am, therefore, as every 
man must be who stands in such presence, a suppliant for your 
co-operation and indulgence; and, accepting your honors with 
this declaration, I again offer you my thanks." 

Mr. Stanton (Dem,). "I have a resolution that I desire to 
offer, which I know will meet with the unanimous approbation 
of the House, and it would spoil by delay. It is as follows : 



THANKS VOTED TO JOHN W. FORNEY. 38 1 

" '■Resolved^ That the thanks of this House are eminently due 
and are hereby tendered to John W. Forney, Esq., for the dis- 
tinguished ability, fidelity, and impartiality with which he has 
presided over the deliberations of the House of Representatives 
during the arduous and protracted contest for Speaker which 
has just closed.' " 

Mr. Campbell, of Ohio (Whig). " I sought the floor to offer 
a similar resolution, and I hope that it will be unanimously 
adopted." 

" The question was taken, and the resolution was unanimously 
adopted. 

Mr. Wheeler (Rep.). "I offer the following resolution, and 
upon it demand the previous question : 

" ^Resolved, That there be paid out of the contingent fund of 
the House to John W. Forney, late Clerk, in addition to the sal- 
ary allowed him by law, eight dollars per diem for the additional 
services performed by him from the 3d day of December, 1855, 
to the 4th day of February, 1856.' " 

"The previous question was then seconded, and the main 
question was ordered to be now put. 

Mr. Jones, of Tennessee (Dem.). "I object to that resolu- 
tion, and I think it is not in order to introduce it." 

The Speaker. " The Chair understands the House to have 
ordered the main question to be put." 

" The question was then taken on the resolution, and it was 
agreed to." 

I will be pardoned for quoting the personal resolutions which 
closed this extraordinary struggle, because they develop the 
characteristics of the leaders of opposing parties, and also be- 
cause they show how even ordinary integrity and decision are 
certain of ultimate compensation. General Banks has just been 
defeated for Congress in Massachusetts, after a long career, 
but I can not forget the manner in which he pronounced his 
inaugural address as Speaker of the House sixteen years ago. 



382 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

His deportment during the succeeding session, his impartiality, 
his courtesy, and his uniform integrity, proved him to be an 
unrivaled statesman, and I am not without hope that we shall 
hear of him honorably in the future. Quitman, Barksdale, Rust, 
Keitt, Eustis, and other Southern fire-eaters have gone to their 
last account. They were men of varied and distinguished abil- 
ities, and yet not one of them, if he could speak from his grave, 
but would say that Nathaniel P. Banks was a just and honest 
presiding officer. 

[November 10, 1872.] 



LXXXVII. 

Washington City has been a vast newspaper sepulchre. It 
has witnessed the rise and fall of more dailies and weeklies 
than any other city of equal size and pretensions in the world ; 
and if they could be catalogued and accompanied by a sketch 
of the hopes that tempted and the disappointments that killed 
them, a very interesting inorceau would be added to the curios- 
ities of literature. The closing of the Democratic organ at the 
national capital. The Patriot, last Monday, revives the recollec- 
tion of the long procession that have passed away. The Patriot 
was conducted with signal ability, counting in its corps some 
of the best talent of the country, including W. B. Reed, James 
E. Harvey, Henry Adams, and the finest Democratic minds in 
Congress. Undoubtedly President Grant's re-election hastened 
its overthrow, but in the long run, at least in these later days, 
a national Administration can not of itself sustain a Washington 
newspaper. It must have a specialty of its own, and be noted 
for fine writing and unusual spirit to keep it afloat. Dr. Bay- 
ley's weekly. The Era, flourished, and for a while most profita- 
bly, chiefly on account of that marvelous romance, "Uncle 



I 



THE PRESS IN WASHINGTON, ^8$ 

Tom's Cabin," Mrs. Stowe's great work, of which Mr. Parton, 
in one of his "Topics of the Times," spe*aks so justly and so 
graphically. T/ie Daily Chrofikk, which I established in 1862, 
made money for several years because it had for a constituency 
a reading army. But we did not know our advantages, and 
were never prepared for the hosts who clamored for it. It was 
no uncommon thing for us to print thirty thousand a day, a cir- 
culation that could have been trebled if we had possessed the 
material to do the work. But few persons had any confidence, 
or, indeed, any desire, that the war would be so long protracted. 
We looked for the collapse of the rebellion every day, and were 
not surprised, after the troops had gone home, and the camps 
were broken up, and the hospitals turned into school-houses 
and dwellings, at the vast difference in our income. But what 
a change the war has made in the Washington newspapers. 
T/ie Sunday Chronicle, which was the first of its class ever seen 
at the capital, established in March, of 186 1, gave more news 
and telegrams in one number than all the old-time dailies did, 
I was going to say, in a week ; and now there are no less than 
four other Sunday journals. Then compare The Star, Daily 
Chronicle, and Republican with the old Globe, Ufiion, and Litel- 
ligencer, I know all about the two eras, for I worked in both. 
Twenty-five years ago a telegraphic dispatch or regular local 
department was a rarity. We were literally drenched with 
eternal politics. Our editorials were all about the party. Our 
news was heavy, and our ways were the ways of leisure. The 
world moved slow, and the newspapers were slower. We gen- 
erally went to press about 10 P. M., and our matter was always 
early in hand. Expenses were light, except the salaries, which 
were always liberal. The profits of the proprietors, especially 
if they happened to own the organs, were enormous, large 
enough, in fact, to enable these same proprietors to retire upon 
handsome fortunes. The last was Mr. Buchanan's champion, 
General George W. Bowman, the well-known editor of The Bed- 



384 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

fo}-d (Pennsylvania) Gazette^ now living, I think, in Cumberland 
County, in that State, the possessor of a competency earned in 
Washington. Organship died with the rebellion. The public 
printing wholly ceased to be a job under Mr. Lincoln, and those 
who came to make newspapers in Washington have had to do 
it by hard work, by heavy outlays for news and telegraphs, and 
by a constant hand-to-hand struggle with a busy competition. 
The old correspondents, "Potomac," "The Spy in Washing- 
ton," " Observer," of The Ledger; " X," of The Baltimore Sim ; 
" Independent," of The North American ; and later than these, 
"Occasional," of The Press, gave way to the new guild, the 
alerts of Fourteenth Street, with their ravenous pens, their in- 
satiate greed for news, their sparkling repartees, their genius, 
wit, and dash. Supplementing these came the modern plan of 
"interviewing," which no public man, if he values his soul, can 
shirk without ridicule. Following this new fashion came the 
fluttering swarm of lady correspondents, with their delicious 
gossip, their bright sentences, their pictures of great people, 
and their unequaled photographs of receptions and parties. 
Only Annie Royall represented the gentler sex thirty years ago, 
and she had the ill-luck to be a terror rather than a temptation, 
for she wore a man's hat and carried an umbrella as large as 
that of "Paul Pry." 

Yet, with all these advantages over the past, few fouunes are 
made by the hard-working men in the business of journalism in 
Washington, excepting, perhaps. The Eveni7ig Star, the popular 
publication of the city, with its large circulation and its com- 
paratively small force of writers. And I perceive that 77ie Star 
is being steadily pushed by a new rival, called The Daily Critic, 
which has achieved an immense circulation almost without cost. 
The expense is too heavy, and the reading public too limited. 
Government advertising, however liberal, is not sufficient. 
There must be a community of producers, and Washington is 
still a city of consumers, men and women in the Departments, 



WILLIAM M. MEREDITH. 385 

who get their daily literature gratis, and devour it in the easy 
intervals of their routine work. When factories become as fre- 
quent as fashionables, and when commerce is as active as pol- 
itics, and when the nation's capital is belted by brilliant country 
towns like Chester, Norristown, Germantown, Media, West 
Chester, Manayunk, Frankford, and Camden (New Jersey), 
near old Philadelphia, a daily newspaper will be a pleasing and 
profitable investment. 

[November 17, 1872.] 



LXXXVIII. 

From his high place as President of the new Convention to 
reform the Constitution of Pennsylvania, William M. Meredith 
can overlook the eventful past, in which for half a century he 
has been a commanding figure. As he aids to smooth the 
path of the future he will be largely aided by the light of his 
long experience. Mr. Meredith is now in his seventy-fourth 
year. He has, therefore, reached the philosophic age, and like 
the traveler who, at the close of a protracted journey, reaches 
the crest of a mountain, and surveys all he has seen, he may 
rest in supreme content upon the retrospect. In the very hall 
in which Mr. Meredith now presides, he was, thirty-five years 
ago, a member of a similar convention from the city of Phila- 
delphia. He was then about thirty-seven, one of the youngest 
of the delegates, and als'o one of the most distinguished. The 
stately character of his ripened age is the fulfillment of his early 
manhood. None of the old men of the Convention of 1837 
surpassed Mr. Meredith in mental gifts and solid judgment, and 
there were some far advanced in the vale of years at that time. 
Thaddeus Stevens was a delegate from the County of Adams, 
and was in his forty-fourth yean Ritner was Governor of Penn- 

R 



^86 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

sylvania, and Stevens was the acknowledged leader of the anti- 
Masonic party — in fact, the controller of the State administra- 
tion. John Sergeant, of Philadelphia, was president of the 
convention, the deau ideal of a gentleman, jurist, and citizen. I 
can recall him, when, as a boy, I sat in the galleries and watch- 
ed his courteous manners and impartial rulings. Of medium 
height, there was that in his sad and saturnine face, in the 
glance of his eye, and the tones of his voice, which gave un- 
speakable dignity to the Chair. Parties were in no pleas- 
ant mood. No such era of good feeling pervaded the peo- 
ple as at the present day, when other delegates are called to 
amend our fundamental law, surrounded by every inducement 
to avoid a prejudiced and partial course. The Democrats had 
lost the State by the Wolf and Muhlenberg quarrel in 1835-36, 
and were rapidly reuniting to regain it in 1838. Mr. Stevens 
carried things with a high hand. He boldly wielded the pat- 
ronage of the State administration to strengthen Governor Rit- 
ner; he attacked the Masonic Order, and had some of the most 
eminent of its members summoned before his Committee of In- 
vestigation. He assumed the leadership of his party in the 
Reform Convention. Yet in despite of his dogmatism there 
was an indescribable charm about Thaddeus Stevens. If he 
was a violent partisan, he was a generous friend and a chival- 
ric foe. If he struck hard with his clenched hand, he gave and 
forgave freely with his open one ; and though often intolerant 
and illogical in his war upon secret societies — as he afterward 
proved in 1854, when he joined the Know-Nothings — his splen- 
did championship of universal education and his support of 
universal emancipation, made men forget his sharp sayings, and 
compelled admiration if they did not arouse affection. 

Young Meredith was not disposed to follow the imperious 
New-Englander, and there was an early conflict between them. 
The attack upon the Masons was particularly distasteful to 
Meredith, and he revolted from the attempt to introduce politics 



REPLY TO THADDEUS STEVENS. 387 

into the convention. At last the storm broke. On the 5th of 
June, 1837, Mr. Meredith paid his respects to Mr. Stevens in a 
remarkable speech, of which the following is a specimen : 

" Mr. President, when the home of my birth and affections 
was causelessly assailed, I defended her. What man would 
have done less? I defended her with warmth. Who would 
have wished me to do it coldly ? It is said that I used strong 
language, and yet, sir, I used the feeblest of all the words that 
were rushing from my heart to my lips. This is the very head 
of my offense. For this I am thrown, like a captive Christian, 
naked into the arena, where the Great Unchained of Adams is 
baying at my throat, while my vulpine friend from Franklin eats 
smoothly into my vitals ; and, like the Spartan fool, I hug him 
to my bosom. Alas, sir ! what a spectacle do we here exhibit ! 
What monuments of weakness are we leaving for posterity ! 
How far is our position below the true and just standard of a 
body charged with functions such as these we are appointed to 
fulfill. In all the other States discussions on the framing of 
their constitutions have been temperate and deliberate. Even 
the hot-blooded South can consider its organic laws calmly, 
coolly, and dispassionately. Here alone, here in Pennsylvania, 
we seem resolved to prove to the world that if we can not deter- 
mine every thing according to the dictates of absolute wdsdom, 
we can at least debate with indecent heat, and degrade the as- 
sembled majesty of the people by party strife and personal bit- 
terness. In all that I have said, sir, I have been actuated by 
a desire merely to discharge my duty by defending my constit- 
uents and myself. I entertain no hostility to the gentleman 
from Adams. Indeed, why should I ? On the contrary, no 
man admires more than I do his great abilities. I avow that 
he displays talents which, wdthin their proper sphere, are, in my 
experience, unsurpassed, if not unrivaled. In party tactics and 
small manoeuvres I have never seen his equal, and do not ex- 
pect to meet his superior. Who can forget the mingled sar- 



388 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

casm, eloquence, and pathos of his harangue on the assistant 
doorkeeper ? Or who was not dehghted with the precision, ac- 
curacy, and effect of our evolutions under his drill through the 
election of officers ? The gentleman is an honor to his halberd. 
How close was his formation of our column ! How rapidly did 
he deploy us into line ! How skillfully was our front dressed ! 
How rigorously were the deserters shot ! Never did a more 
accomplished orderly report a company ' formed ' on a parade 
ground. It is very true, I fear, that while he was putting us 
through the manual exercise in the court-yard, the enemy were 
climbing in at the back windows, for I observe that we have six 
secretaries, whereas I do not remember to have voted for more 
than two. However, this is but the fortune of war, and detracts 
nothing from his merit. Has he not glory enough ? The gen- 
tleman has other duties to perform. To him it belongs to su- 
perintend the executive administration. The Masons, we know, 
are ordered for punishment, and when the day arrives when they 
are to be had up at the triangle, we shall doubtless see him in 
the fervent fulfillment of his employment, with his ready instru- 
ment well prepared, and we shall hear 

' The long resounding line and frequent lash.' 
" Do not all these occupations furnish sufficient scope for the 
ambition or activity of the gentleman's character.? Why will 
he grasp at more ? What has he to do with the basis of repre- 
sentation ? Within the limits of his appropriate functions, he 
commands from us a respect not unmingled with a certain awe. 
But instead of confining himself within those limits, he seems 
occasionally to run beyond himself, mistakes his yellow cotton 
shoulder-knots for golden epaulettes, and his halberd for a lead- 
ing-staff, mounts a ragged hobby, and when we are perhaps in 
the midst of an important affair, in the face and under the fire 
of the enemy, down gallops our mad sergeant along the line, 
and insists on our suspending all other operations that we may 
be instantly put through some unknown pose, or some ne\v 



I 



MEN OF THE REVOLUTION. 389 

movement to the shoulder of his own devising, and which none 
of us ever heard of before. And then, upon the least demur at 
compliance with his odd demands, he rides furiously into our 
ranks, breaking his halberd over the head of one, lending a 
horse's kick to another, covering a third from head to foot with 
mud, throwing our battalion into inextricable confusion, and 
exposing us to inevitable defeat. And all these misfortunes are 
to be suffered because one gentleman has not learned to dis- 
criminate between yellow cotton and gold lace ! No, sir ! they 
can not be much longer suffered. We would not touch a hair 
of our eccentric's head, nor even of the tail of his hobby. At 
present I merely beg to remonstrate kindly and gently with 
him, as I have been doing, against his persistence in these lu- 
dicrous yet injurious assaults upon those who, however feebly 
and humbly, are endeavoring to discharge their duty." 

The rejoinder of Mr. Stevens was very severe and even per- 
sonal. Reading it over, now when the Great Commoner is in 
his grave, it seems a loud report over a very small matter, and 
stands in curious contrast with his immortal utterances in the 
great struggle for the life and liberty of a nation. The protest 
of Mr. Meredith against party politics in a Constitutional Con- 
vention is more pertinent, and may be profitably studied by the 
delegates to the body now in session. 

[November 28, 1872.] 



LXXXIX. 

We shall have many interesting historical developments dur- 
ing our preparations for the great Centennial. The men and 
measures of the Revolution will reappear in a new light, and 
the contrast between the past and present will be drawn in ra- 
diant colors. In reading over a few of the periodicals of the 



390 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

last quarter of the last century I found some incidents and 
passages in the lives of Washington, Jefferson, and Franklin, 
that may have been forgotten by the very old and have cer- 
tainly never been read by the very young. One of these is 
the following original letter of General Washington to the dis- 
tinguished Matthew Carey, whose no less distinguished son, 
Henry C. Carey, is still living in Philadelphia, at an advanced 
age, the centre of a circle of loving friends: 

"Mount Vernon, July 21, 1788. 

"Sir, — If I had more leisure I should most willingly give you any such 
communications (that might be within my reach) as would serve to keep up 
the reputation of your Miiseu7n. At present, occupied as I am with agricult- 
ure and correspondence, I can promise little. Perhaps some gentlemen 
connected with me may make some selections from my repositories ; and I 
beg you will be persuaded that I can have no rehutance to pet'init any thing 
to be comnm7iicated that might tend to establish tnith, extend knowledge^ excite 
virtue, and promote happiness amo7ig mankind. 

" With best wishes for success, I am, sir, your most ob't h'ble serv't, 

" Go. Washington. 

" Mr. Matthew Carey, Editor of the Anicrican Mtcsetim:' 

Here are the qualities that make the modern philosopher and 
journalist. Matthew Carey was anxious to preserve for poster- 
ity the treasures that George Washington had collected in his 
illustrious career, and Washington responds gracefully to the 
request. The closing sentence in italics is Washington's ideal 
of the creed of a patriot, and a fine index of his own character. 
Jefferson's tribute to Washington is very beautiful : 

" I own," he says, " I regard it, though but a single view of 
the character of Washington, as one of transcendent impor- 
tance, that the commencement of the Revolution found him al- 
ready prepared and mature for the work, and that on the day 
which his commission was signed by John Hancock — the im- 
mortal seventeenth of June, 1775— a day on which Providence 
kept an even balance with the cause, and while it took from us 
a Warren, gave us a Washington — he was just as consummate 



JEFFERSON S ESTIMATE OF ROYALTY. 391 

a leader for peace as for war, as when, eight years after, he re- 
signed that commission at Annapolis." 

But he did not hesitate to counsel and even to criticise his 
chief, as the following will show : 

"Paris, May 2,1788. 
"7'^ General Washington : 

" I had intended to have written a word to your Excellency on the sub- 
ject of the new Constitution, but I have already spun out my letter to an 
immoderate length. I will just observe, therefore, that, according to my 
ideas, there is a great deal of good in it. There are two things, however, 
which I dislike strongly : 

'■'■ First. The want of a declaration of rights. 

" I am in hopes the opposition in Virginia will remedy this, and produce 
such a declaration. 

^^ Second. The perpetual re-eligibility of the President. 

" This, I fear, will make that an office for life, first, and then hereditary. 
I was such an enemy to monarchies before I came to Europe, I am ten thou- 
sand times more so since I have seen what they are. There is scarcely an 
evil known in these countries which may not be traced to their king as its 
source ; nor a good which is not derived from the small fibres of republican- 
ism existing among them. I can further say, with safety, that there is not a 
crowned head in Europe whose talents or merits could entitle him to be 
elected a vestryman by the people of any parish in America !" 

What a picture he draws of the European sovereigns in 1789 : 

" I often amuse myself with contemplating the characters of the then reign- 
ing sovereigns of Europe. Louis XVI, was a fool, of my own knowledge, 
and in despite of the answers made for him at his trial. The King of Spain 
was a fool, he of Naples the same. They passed their lives in hunting, and 
dispatched two couriers a week one thousand miles to let each other know 
what game they had killed the preceding days. The King of Sardinia was 
a fool. All these were Bourbons. The Queen of Portugal, a Braganza, was 
an idiot by nature, and so was the King of Denmark. Their sons, as re- 
gents, exercised the powers of government. The King of Prussia, successor 
to the great Frederick, was a mere hog in body as well as in mind. Gus- 
tavus, of Sweden, and Joseph, of Austria, were really crazy, and George, of 
England, you know was in a straight waistcoat. There remained, then, none 
but old Catharine, who had been too lately picked up to have lost her com- 
mon-sense. In this state Bonaparte found Europe, and it was this state of 
its rulers which lost it with scarce a struggle." 



392 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Reluctant to undertake a public tour while President, he 
seems to have had pretty much the notion of Washington, in 
that respect, that our people have of Grant : 

"Washington, June 19, 1807. 
"71? Governor Stdlivan : 

" With respect to the tour my friends to the North have proposed that I 
should make in that quarter, I have not made up my final opinion. The 
course of life which General Washington had run, civil and military, the 
services he had rendered, and the space he therefore occupied in the affec- 
tions of his fellow-citizens, take from his examples the weight of precedents 
for others, because no others can arrogate to themselves the claims which 
he had on the public homage." 

ON CIVIL SERVICE. 

"Washington, July 17, 1807. 
" I have never removed a man merely because he was a Federalist. I 
have never wished them to give a vote at an election but according to their 
own wishes. But, as no Government could discharge its duties to the best 
advantage of its citizens if its agents were in a regular course of thwarting 
instead of executing all its measures, and were employing the patronage and 
influences of their offices against the Government and its measures, I have 
only requested they would be quiet, and they should be safe." 

GLAD TO GET RID OF THE PRESIDENCY. 

"Washington, March 2, 1809. 
" To Af. Diipont de Nemours : 

" Never did a prisoner, released from chains, feel such relief as I shall on 
shaking off the shackles of power. Nature intended me for the tranquil 
pursuits of science, by rendering them my supreme delight; but the enormi- 
ties of the times in which I have lived have forced me to take a part in re- 
sisting them, and to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political pas- 
sions." 

In his Memoirs he often sketches his associates and con- 
temporaries. John Adams is " vain and irritable," but as " dis- 
interested as the being who made him." Pendleton, of Vir- 
ginia, "the ablest man in debate I have ever met," "without 
the poetic fancy of Mr. Patrick Henry, his sublime imagination, 
or his lofty and overwhelming diction." He was in love with 
James Madison, "who never wandered from his subject into 



BENJAMIN FRANKLIN. 393 

vain declamation, but pursuing it closely in language pure, clas- 
sical, and copious, soothing always the feelings of his adver- 
saries by civility and softness of expression, he rose to the em- 
inent station which he held in the great National Convention 
of 1787." George Wythe, also of Virginia, "was a man of the 
first order of wisdom among those who acted on the theatre of 
the Revolution." "Lafayette is a most valuable auxiliary to 
me," Jefferson writes from Paris ; " he has a great deal of 
sound genius, is well remarked by the king, and rising in popu- 
larity." 

But no character shines with a purer lustre than that of Ben- 
jamin Franklin, who, besides being a natural philosopher, was 
also a politician and a statesman. Jefferson writes about him 
from Paris, September ii, 1785, as follows : 

" At a large table where I dined the other day, a gentleman 
from Switzerland expressed his apprehensions for the fate of 
Dr. Franklin, as he said he had been informed that he would 
be received with stones by the people, who w^ere generally dis- 
satisfied with the Revolution, and incensed against all those 
who had assisted in bringing it about. I told him his appre- 
hensions were just, and that the people of America would prob- 
ably salute Dr. Franklin with the same stones that they had 
thrown at the Marquis Lafayette P 

Could I better conclude this letter of reminiscences than by 
the following extract from Franklin's reply to Lord Howe, com- 
mander of the British forces, dated Philadelphia, July 30, 1776 ? 

" It is impossible we should think of submission to a govern- 
ment that has, with the most wanton barbarity and cruelty, 
burned our defenseless towns in the midst of winter, excited the 
savages to massacre our peaceful farmers, and set our slaves 
to murder their masters ; and is even now sending foreign mer- 
cenaries to deluge our country with blood. These atrocious 
injuries have extinguished every spark of affection for that 
parent-country we once held so dear; but, were it possible for 

R 2 



394 



ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN, 



US to forget and forgive them, it is not possible for you, I mean 
the British nation, to forgive the people you have so heavily 
injured." 

[December i, 1872.] 



xc. 

What a delicious volume that famous man of the world, Sam 
Ward, who is every body's friend, from black John who drives 
his hack to the jolly Senator who eats his dinners and drinks 
his wine — from the lady who accepts his bouquet to the prat- 
tling child who hungers for his French candies — what a jewel 
of a book he could make of the good things he has heard at his 
thousand " noctes ambrosianae !" He is again domesticated at 
John Welcker's, in Washington City, where, during the session, 
he will preside like a very prince of good fellows, attending to 
business and pleasure at the same time. Such men are treas- 
ures in many ways. They live to make themselves and others 
happy. They have seen so much of the world that they have 
ceased to quarrel with other men's ideas. They have lost their 
reverence for mere names, but not their love for genuine great- 
ness. True cosmopolites, they are every where at home. Eager 
to know all that is going on, they will give you in return for 
your news or jokes hours full of gossip and stories. They know 
every body if every body does not know them, and, as they are 
always well-bred gentlemen, they never descend to vulgarity or 
slang. To sit at Ward's table, to see him manage a dinner, 
and to hear him call out his guests, not to speak of his master- 
ship of the cuisine, including his science in wines, is to enjoy 
something more than the delicacies he spreads before you. He 
would have made a capital companion for Sheridan or Tom 
Moore, and doubtless spent many a joyous night with James T. 



SAM WARD. 



395 



Brady and John T. Sullivan. I heard him relate how he helped 
a friend with the present Emperor of Brazil, a few days ago, 
and I question if ever Lever wrote a more amusing incident. 
Sam Ward belongs to the old school, though he is full of the 
progress of the new era. He looks very like the late David 
Paul Brown, dresses with equal care and taste, and his heart is 
as big as was the heart of that good man and grandiloquent 
orator. 

" Once on a time," many years ago, I saw Webster, Benton, 
John M. Clayton, James Buchanan, Judge Douglas, and William 
R. King at dinner. I was a sort of David Copperfield among 
them — a minnow among Tritons. But I never shall forget their 
conversation and their humor. Buchanan was a capital host. 
He did not tell a good story, but he enjoyed one; and when 
Webster was roused he kept a table in a roar. And " Col- 
onel King," as they used to call the bachelor Senator from Ala- 
bama, was amusing in his dry way. Douglas was almost un- 
rivaled. His repartee was a flash, and his courtesy as knightly 
as if he had been born in the best society. But none of them 
could surpass Sam Ward either in giving a good dinner or in 
seasoning it with Attic wit and Chesterfieldian politeness. 

Rough John C. Rives, of The Globe, was a different character. 
His anecdotes always had a special flavor, and never a sting. 
One day, when Douglas and a few of us were standing in " the 
Hole in the Wall," a celebrated resort for Senators and mem- 
bers, Rives came in and joined us. It was in 1854, just after 
Douglas had introduced his bill to repeal the Missouri Com- 
promise Line. Rives, like his partner, Francis P. Blair, was op- 
posed to it, and made no hesitation in saying so. Douglas 
twitted him about getting out of the party lines, and tried to 
convince him that his measure was right. "I don't like it, 
Douglas, and never can like it. It is uncalled for. It reminds 
me of the fellow who, having gone pretty nearly through all the 
foUies of life, took it into his head to hire a bully to do his fight- 



396 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

ing. He made a contract with the stoutest bruiser he could 
find, and they started on their journey down the Mississippi. 
At every landing the quarrel was picked by the one and the 
battle fought by the other. It was tough work sometimes, but 
rather enjoyable. At last they reached New Orleans. On the 
levee they found a stout, brawny stevedore, and, after some 
chaffing, a row was started, and the two began to pummel each 
other. They were well matched, but, aided by his experience, 
the bully beat the stevedore. * I say, boss,' said his fighting 
man, ' I give up this job ; you is too much for me ! I don^t see 
any 7'easo?t in that ere last fight y Of course, the laugh was 
against Judge Douglas, and none relished the hit more than 
himself. 

But perhaps nobody at a dinner-table of the present day is 
so welcome as James W. Nye, Senator from Nevada. I wish I 
could congratulate him upon his certain re-election, though Mr. 
Jones, who will probably succeed him, is himself a character, 
and will make his mark. Governor Nye will always be a noted 
personage. His memory is prodigious, his wit electric. A face 
of singular fascination and a manner debonair, in his Senatorial 
seat he recalls the best ideals of the past. Social, genial, gen- 
erous, he takes possession of a dinner-table at once. His mag- 
netism seems to pervade the whole company, and when he tells 
a story, always relating to some incident familiar to the guests, 
and illustrated by quaint expressions, with a bright eye and 
musical voice, the gravest must bow to his irresistible influ- 
ence. He dines with Sam Ward frequently, when it will be 
worth much to be present. 

[December 8, 1872.] 



HORACE GREELEY. 397 



XCI. 



Death is busy among the brave and the gifted. William 
Prescott Smith, George Gordon Meade, Horace Greeley, have 
been called in the prime of life and usefulness. They faded 
suddenly from the ranks of men ; and nothing remains save the 
memory of the exquisite humor and kindness of the one, the 
modest courage of the other, the various resources and cease- 
less benevolence of the last. But none of the many that have 
been summoned will live so long in our hearts, not even William 
H. Seward, the venerable sage who led the way full of honors 
and of years, as the silver-haired philosopher of the New York 
Tribune, The incidents preceding his death, the manner of it, 
and the rare events that followed and crowned it, will supply 
material fifty years hence for a most touching drama. In one 
respect the tributes to his memory must always be unequaled. 
I mean the literary laurels laid upon his grave by his associates 
of the press. The eulogies upon Washington and Lincoln were 
more numerous, perhaps, but they were not so original, and cer- 
tainly not more sincere. Differing from the worship of Lincoln, 
martyr as he was, what was said of Greeley came as warm from 
the impulses of his enemies as from the impulses of his friends. 
To employ Mr. Sumner's splendid figure : " Parties are always 
for the living; and now, standing at the open grave of Horace 
Greeley, we are admonished to forget the strife of party, and to 
remember only truth, country, and mankind, to which his honest 
life was devoted. In other days the horse and armor of the de- 
parted chieftain have been buried in the grave where he re- 
posed. So, too, may we bury the animosities if not the badges 
of the past. Then, indeed, will there be victory for the dead 
which all will share." Every journalist who has written, and 
all have written, has, with some unforgotten exceptions, poured 
his warmest affections into the sobbing hearts of a sympathizing 



398 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

people. Each has done his best, and many have surpassed 
themselves. There has been an intellectual rivalry among these 
masters of the pen. Who will not cherish the glorious effusion 
of the New York World on Friday, December i, 1872, the fer- 
vent eulogy of the New York Herald^ and the splendid homage 
of Theodore Tilton in the Golden Age, Sam Bowles in the Spring- 
field Republican, William Cassidy in the Albany Argus, W. F. 
Storey in the Chicago Tifnes, and their contemporaries. North 
and South, East and West ? Preserved, as they will be, in one 
or more volumes, they will be a monument to Horace Greeley 
more enduring than the loftiest column of bronze or marble, 
though covered with bass-reliefs, and gorgeous in compliments 
carved by cunning hands. 

The last time I saw Mr. Greeley was at the Continental Hotel 
in Philadelphia, several weeks before the Cincinnati Convention. 
The interview had been arranged by one of the gentlemen of 
The Tribune at Mr. Greeley's request, and we had a long and 
confidential talk. I am quite sure he did not then entertain 
the remotest idea of his nomination against General Grant, and 
though he was earnest in expressing the belief that the man 
could be found to defeat Grant, he listened patiently to my 
earnest appeal to him. I told him that both of us owed alle- 
giance to the Republican mission, that General Grant deserved 
re-election, that there was not the slightest prospect of defeat- 
ing his renomination, and that I longed to see the great Tribune 
in the lead of what would be an assured victory. He was un- 
usually genial and kind, and I have always believed that, when 
we parted, he was carefully reconsidering his course. He used 
no harsh words in speaking of the President, and seemed to be 
animated only by solicitude for the country, and never once re- 
ferred to himself as a possible Presidential candidate. 

As I sat, Wednesday, December 4, in the Church of the Di- 
vine Paternity, New York City, and noticed the multitude of 
representative men — Thurlow Weed's aged form; Chief Justice 



GREELEY'S FUNERAL RITES. 399 

Chase, with bare and bending head; William Evart's spare fig- 
ure and mobile face ; General Dix, the Governor elect of New 
York — among the pall-bearers ; the President, his secretaries, 
and part of his Cabinet; the crowds of editors from all parts of 
the country — and heard the sacred music and the magnificent 
discourse of Dr. Chapin, I thought of the death and burial of 
the great Frenchman, Mirabeau, April, 1791. Very different 
were the two men, but their lives were equally eventful and 
their last hours equally dramatic. Mirabeau was exhausted by 
his frequent public speaking. Five great orations in one day 
finished him ; and when brought to his final hour, he exclaimed, 
"To-day I shall die; envelop me in perfumes; crown me with 
flowers, and surround me with music, so that I may deliver my- 
self peaceably to sleep." Our poor friend did not call for odors 
or roses or sweet strains ; they came from the spontaneous love 
of his saddened friends. Like America with him, however, 
Mirabeau's death extinguished all the envies and enmities of 
the French. Party feuds dissolved in tears over his body, and 
he passed to his rest through an avenue of hundreds of thou- 
sands of former foes. Says the historian : 

" The proceedings of the Assembly were immediately sus- 
pended, a general mourning ordered, and a magnificent funeral 
prepared. * We will all attend !' exclaimed the whole Assembly. 
In the Church of Saint Genevieve a monument was erected to 
his memory, with the inscription : 

'a GRATEFUL COUNTRY TO GREAT MEN.' 

" It was situated next to that of Descartes. His funeral took 
place the day after his death. All the authorities, the depart- 
ments, the municipalities, the popular societies, the Assembly, 
and the army accompanied the procession ; and this orator ob- 
tained more honors than ever had been conferred on the pomp- 
ous funerals which proceeded to Saint Denis. Thus terminated 
the career of this extraordinary man, who has been greatly 



400 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

blamed, who effected much good and much evil, and whose 
genius was equally adapted to both. Having vanquished the 
aristocracy, he turned upon those who contributed to his vic- 
tory, arrested their course by his eloquence, and commanded 
their admiration even while he provoked their hostility." 

But how different the recollection of these two men ! Mira- 
beau is rarely recalled, and only as an impassioned tribune — a 
man of sentiment rather than of action, with few fixed convic- 
tions. Greeley will live as a marvelous aggregate, strong in 
good works, his fame growing riper with the increasing fruits of 
his gigantic labors for humanity. 

[December 15, 1872.] 



XCII. 

I AM reading, with infinite zest, John Forster's second volume 
of the Life of Charles Dickens. Every page is a new pleasure, 
every chapter a new revelation of the better side of the truest 
friend of humanity in the literary world. Neither Shakespeare, 
nor Byron, nor Walter Scott, nor Tom Moore, nor Alfred Ten- 
nyson, deigned to show so honest a devotion to the poor and the 
unfortunate as Charles Dickens. He always seized the holi- 
days, and especially Christmas, to extend his warnings to the 
rich and his encouragement to the poor. ** Blessings on your 
kind heart," wrote the great Jeffrey, of the Edinburgh Review, 
in 1842, after he had read "The Christmas Carol ;" "you should 
be happy yourself, for you may be sure you have done more 
good by this little publication, fostered more kindly feelings, 
and prompted more positive acts of beneficence than can be 
traced to all the pulpits and confessionals in Christendom." 
" Who can listen," exclaimed Thackeray, " to objections regard- 
ing such a book as this ? It seems to me a national benefit, 



CHARLES DICKENS. 4OI 

and to every man or woman who reads it a personal kindness." 
" It told," says Forster, his biographer, " the selfish man to rid 
himself of his selfishness ; the just man to make himself gen- 
erous ; the good-natured man to enlarge the sphere of his good 
nature. Dickens had identified himself with Christmas fancies. 
Its life and spirit, its humor in riotous abundance, of right be- 
longed to him. Its imaginations, as well as kindly thoughts, 
were his ; and its privilege to light up with some sort of com- 
fort the squalidest places he had made his own." "With brave 
and strong restraints, what is evil in ourselves was to be sub- 
dued ; with warm and gentle sympathies, what is bad or unre- 
claimed in others was to be redeemed. The Beauty was to 
embrace the Beast, as in the divinest of all those fables ; the 
star was to rise out of the ashes, as in our much-loved Cinder- 
ella ; and we were to. play the Valentine with our wilder broth- 
ers, and bring them back with brotherly care to civilization and 
happiness." 

After the "Christmas Carol" came "The Chimes," for the 
holidays, in 1844. This beautiful story was written in Genoa, 
Italy. The argument here, as in the first, was to induce the 
rich to help the poor, and the poor to forget their miseries. It 
is curious how he found the title of "The Chimes." He had 
the subject, but not the name of his book, in his mind, and, 
says Forster, " sitting down, one morning, resolute for work, 
such a peal of ' chimes ' arose from the city as he found to be 
maddening. All Genoa lay beneath him, and up from it, with 
some gust of wind, came in one fell sound, the clang and clash 
of all its steeples, pouring into his ears, again and again, in a 
tuneless, grating, discordant, jerking, hideous vibration, that 
made his ideas spin round and round till they lost themselves 
in a whirl of vexation and giddiness." "Only two days later 
came a letter, in which not a single syllable was written but 
*We have heard "The Chimes" at midnight. Master Shallow;' 
then I knew he had discovered what he wanted." His one 



402 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

great icica was always that the poor should be led out of their 
poverty ; the vicious out of their vices ; the unfortunate out of 
their misfortunes, and that Christmas was the season to enforce 
the moral. In Venice he said, " Ah ! when I saw those pal- 
aces, how I thought that to leave one's hand upon the time, 
lastingly upon the time, with one tender touch for the mass of 
toiling people that nothing could obliterate, would be to lift 
one's self above the dust of all the Doges in their graves, and 
stand upon the giant's staircase that Samson could not over- 
throw." 

In 1845 ^^ conceived that splendid Christmas ideal, "The 
Cricket on the Hearth." When he was deliberating it he wrote 
to Forster that his new story should contain "C(a;r<?/ philosophy, 
cheerful views, sharp anatomization of humbug, jolly good tem- 
per, and a view of glowing, hearty, generous, mirthful, beaming 
reference in every thing to home and fireside ; and I would call 
it, sir, ' The Cricket ; a Cheerful Creature that Chirrups on the 
Hearth ' — natural history." "It would be a delicate and beau- 
tiful fancy for a Christmas book, making the cricket a little 
household god — silent in the wrong and sorrow of the tale, and 
loud again when all went well and happy." Those of us who 
recollect the wonderful charm of the " Cricket on the Hearth," 
with its weird and simple characters, will not need to be told 
by Forster that " its sale at the outset doubled that of all its 
predecessors." 

Christmas always inspired him. The holidays were his sea- 
son of joyful thoughts and magnetic writing. And now, as we 
recall him in the glowing pages of his confidential biographer, 
why should not we remember those who are so well and grate- 
fully remembered during this immortal interval — the parenthe- 
sis, so to speak, between the old year and the new — the pleas- 
ant porch in which we take leave of the one and enter upon the 
other ? A benefactor of his species, like William W. Corcoran, 
of Washington, D. C, fortunate in his active life, and still more 



PRACTICAL BENEVOLENCE. 403 

fortunate in its closing clays, because encompassed by the prayers 
of those he has aided by his liberality, and by the respect and 
honor of the great District he has beautified by his princely en- 
dowments — such a man ought to spend a most comfortable Christ- 
mas; and George W. Childs, of Philadelphia, whose royal boun- 
ties all the year round have so touching a crown in his holiday gifts 
to the needy, as if to show he does not forget how he broke the 
prison bars of poverty and escaped the "twin jailors of the daring 
heart;" and Jay Cooke, with his great heart full of the warm- 
est impulses, and eager to help with uninquiring benevolence — 
the patron of every noble art and the helper of every stricken 
wanderer ; and W. C. Rallston, of San Francisco, who, also 
risen from the ranks of toil, recollects that he should 

*' Give, as 'twas given, a blessing to thee ;" 
and, 

"Gives, as 'twas given, a blessing to be ;" 

and bright Thomas A. Scott, a prototype of Rallston, who ever 
thinks of the unfortunate or the unlucky, and aids with equal 
modesty and profusion. 

Thanks be to God ! there are many more in the ranks of the 
living — more, many more, who prove that Humanity has yet 
earnest ministers in a world too often abused as cold and cal- 
lous. Nor let us forget the graves of those who toiled to be- 
stow their wealth upon the poor and the needy. There is an 
altar in Girard College where the orphans can spend Christmas 
in honor of the great Frenchman, who accumulated millions by 
hard work and close savings, that he might pour them down 
through the ages upon the fatherless and the motherless. 
There are palaces in London and colleges in the South where 
grateful thousands can recall every Christmas-day the New- 
Englander who was almost a miser in life, that, after death, he 
might approve himself a Midas in the distribution of his count- 
less treasures for Charity and Education. And presently there 
will rise a temple to Art and to Benevolence, on the loveliest 



404 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

shore of the Delaware, in which the name of Edwin Forrest, 
never so honored as it will be on this coming Christmas, will 
be preserved as that of one who toiled through fifty years of 
successive penury, privation, triumph, envy, and admiration, 
that he might die the best friend of the unfortunate children of 
the English and American stage. 

[December 22, 1872.] 



XCIII. 

Joseph Harrison, Jr., of Philadelphia, probably the richest 
man in that city to-day, was apprenticed in a machine-shop 
when he was fifteen. He was foreman in the same establish- 
ment when he was twenty, and at twenty-seven partner in one 
of the earliest locomotive manufactories in this country. Every 
life, however humble, is a lesson — sometimes an example, and 
sometimes a warning ; but a lesson always. Joseph Harrison's 
experience is an example. Born in 18 10, and now in his sixty- 
third year, it is interesting to follow his career, and to trace the 
effect of foreign travel, careful study, and business ambition 
upon a mind which had few or no advantages of early educa- 
tion. He was a worker in iron, and proud of his trade. Per- 
haps the words he used at a public dinner to Henry C. Carey, 
in 1859, may be cited as the ideal of his mission : "That glori- 
ous metal. Iron, must ever be the great agent for promoting 
the mechanic arts. Iron is the true precious metal, a metal so 
interwoven with the wants of life, and with our very enjoyments, 
that to do without it would be to relapse into barbarism. Take 
away gold and silver, and the whole range of baser metals, leav- 
ing us iron, and we would hardly miss them. Take away Iron, 
and we lose what is next to life, and that which sustains life, 
the greatest boon the Almighty has conferred upon man." 



JOSEPH HARRISON. 405 

These words were spoken in 1859, and they are a more cor- 
rect picture of the utilities and adaptations of iron in 1872. 
Covering most of the necessities of life, iron has become one of 
the essentials of art in its highest aspirations ; entering into the 
luxuries of our homes ; into the triumphs of our progress ; in 
fact, into most of the realms of science and imagination. And 
yet all the objects to which it may be applied are unknown. 
The iron production and development are in their infancy. 

Mr. Harrison spent twelve years in Russia, building iron 
roads, locomotives, and bridges for the Emperor Nicholas, and 
receiving, with his partners, the costliest presents for the fidel- 
ity and efficiency of their work. In such society the mind of. 
the young mechanic rapidly expanded. He saw a new civiliza- 
tion and entered upon a broader field. Intercourse with men 
of science gave him a deeper insight into the secrets of his own 
trade, and opened before him a future of boundless interest. 
He studied, not alone the practical, but the aesthetic side of the 
subject. He saw the finest specimens of art in the galleries of 
Europe, read the best books, and gathered information from his 
conversations with learned men, and when he came back to his 
native city he had grown in experience and in knowledge. But 
he had not forgotten that he was a worker in iron. He had 
not forgotten his humble origin, and if you could visit his mag- 
nificent mansion in Eighteenth Street, near Walnut, .in Phila- 
delphia, you would see in one of the panels in his gallery, among 
some of the finest triumphs of art, a picture called the " Iron- 
Worker and King Solomon," painted in 1865 for Mr. Harrison 
by the celebrated Christian Schuessele. The object is to show 
that iron is the chief agent in all the mechanic arts ; and a He- 
brew legend is quoted, setting forth that when Solomon's Tem- 
ple was about to be opened, the blacksmith, finding himself 
omitted from the list of invited guests, boldly marched into the 
Temple, fresh from the forge, and, taking the King's own seat, in- 
sisted that without him the splendid fane had never been con- 



406 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

structed. King Solomon heard the appeal, and the blacksmith 
sat by his side at the royal feast. And in a beautiful volume 
of Mr. Harrison's writings, printed for private circulation, we 
find the painting described in a very excellent poem, from his 
own pen, dedicated to his " dear children and grandchildren," 
to impress upon their minds the value of what is too frequently 
thought to be very humble labor. Following the other pages 
we find this idea elaborately presented by other hands, includ- 
ing addresses by Mr. Harrison on art and science before our 
great institutions, and a proposition for the erection of a gal- 
lery of art in Fairmount Park, which is to be adorned by several 
of the best pictures in his gallery, presented to the Park Com- 
missioners. There is also a series of careful essays on his 
steam-boiler, an invention to prevent destructive explosions, 
even when carelessly used. The variety of the subjects dis- 
cussed and the style of writing, the noble aim apparent through- 
out, show that Joseph Harrison's life has been a useful experi- 
ence to himself, and a lesson and example to others. 

[December 27, 1872.] 



XCIV. 

How to distribute large individual wealth is one of the prob- 
lems of civilization. Stephen Girard seems to have solved it, 
if his great foundation, " The Girard College," is tested by its 
marvelous and increasing success. Its massive and harmonious 
proportions, seen from afar, do not more recall and refresh his 
memory than the occasional parades of the orphans through 
the streets, or their decorum, subordination, and intelligence 
within doors. These youth make little noise in the world, but 
they are felt, far and wide, as so many missionaries. Their 
gratitude to their benefactor is proved by the fact that there 



GIRARD COLLEGE. 407 

are few failures among them. I know of many excellent men 
who have found the dead Frenchman a living father, and whose 
ability, integrity, and energy are the fruit of the seeds he plant- 
ed. He survives in their ever-renewing gratitude ; and if it 
were necessary, I could name lawyers, architects, physicians, 
manufacturers, bankers of eminence, who proudly look to Gi- 
rard College as their Alma Mater. The orphan who goes in 
without a friend emerges with hundreds, and, what is better 
than all, with a self-respect that makes him richer than if he 
had been left the irresponsible heir of a fortune he could not 
count. The crop of boys is systematically replenished. They 
enter from six to ten, and are bound out, between the ages of 
fourteen and eighteen, to agriculture, navigation, arts, mechan- 
ical trades, or manufactures. No stigma attaches to their pro- 
bation, and the name of Stephen Girard is enshrined among 
their sweetest memories. 

As an illustration of the present position of the Girard Col- 
lege, of which so little is known to the outside world, it is only 
necessary to say that at the last annual meeting the reported 
number of pupils was 550! What a sight it would be if Girard 
himself could reappear upon the scene and study the harvest 
of his superb benevolence! He died on the 20th of December, 
1 83 1, in Water Street, above Market, Philadelphia, a little more 
than forty years ago. In this interval Philadelphia has grown 
into a vast metropolis, the nation into something more than 
an empire, and the world revolutionized by the agencies of 
science ; but no wonder would so impress him as his own Col- 
lege and its matchless influence upon civilization. He would 
realize that his behests had not been disobeyed, and that his 
bounties had not been misspent. He at least sets a good ex- 
ample to other men of opulence. 

I wish our American manufacturers and capitalists, whose 
colossal fortunes are no less the outgrowth of the industry of 
their workmen than of their own opportunities, could see the 



4o8 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

town of Halifax (England), seventy miles from Liverpool, and 
there study one of the most striking manifestations of individual 
munificence in the world for the benefit of the laboring classes. 
Sir Francis Crossley, lately deceased, lived at Halifax. He 
died leaving an immense sum for the use of his worthy opera- 
tives. He had no higher ambition than to promote the comfort 
of those whose toil had made him opulent. More than a thou- 
sand of them had taken advantage of his proffer and became 
interested in his business, which is that of a manufacturer of 
magnificent carpets. His establishment is the largest in the 
world, comprising eighteen and a half acres, using two thousand 
horse-power in its steam machinery, giving employment to over 
four thousand men, women, and children. His patent looms 
for the weaving of tapestry, velvet, and Brussels carpets, table- 
covers, and hearth-rugs; his hand-looms for weaving Scotch 
carpets; his facilities for preparing and weaving linen, cotton, 
and woolen carpets, and for spinning, dyeing, and printing, are 
all on the same premises. These are not simply curious and 
wonderful in themselves, but impressive evidences of human 
ingenuity and skill. I saw the thousands dismissed for and re- 
turning from their noon-day meal, and can never forget the 
sight, especially as I turned to the beautiful town itself, a mini- 
ature metropolis, with long rows of elegant stores, comfortable 
dwelHngs, a lordly town -hall, fine hotel, churches, and other 
public buildings. Every where you remarked evidences of the 
wise generosity of Sir Francis Crossley and his family; every 
where you saw how the enormous profits resulting from their 
astonishing enterprises are shared with the industrious and the 
deserving. The beautiful park was the gift of the Crossleys 
to the people. The massive town-hall was built out of their 
money, and an Orphanage for the education of the fatherless 
children of their more emulous workmen. The whole air of 
the place, with its clean, stone-laid streets, the broad, level 
roads in the environs, the well-dressed population, and the love- 



BIOGRAPHY. 



409 



ly valley in which it was set like a picture, comes back to me 
an instructive and pleasing memory. And when we reflect 
upon the incomes of many of our American manufacturers and 
capitalists, especially as we visit the busy centres in which they 
and their workmen live, we can not repress the prayer that the 
time may come, and come soon, when the contrast between the 
luxury of the employer and the poverty of the employed, in this 
country, may not be as startling as it is to-day. In other words, 
that while the riches of the one are almost incalculably increased, 
the comforts of the other should be as carefully considered and 
cultivated. The example of the great English manufacturer, 
Crossley, whose name, like that of Girard, the greatest of the 
benefactors of Philadelphia, will be remembered and revered 
as long as the town of Haiifax stands, ought to be copied large- 
ly in the United States. 

[January 5, 1873.] 



xcv. 

Ah ! if men of note could only realize how much their true 
fame depended on their biographies, written by themselves. 
Two late instances will suffice to prove the point. Had Charles 
Dickens and Edwin Forrest kept fair records of their experi- 
ences, what treasures they would have left to posterity ! The 
French translator of Dickens's works once asked him for a few 
particulars of his life. He replied that he kept them for him- 
self. I never met Forrest that I did not implore him to invite 
my faithful short-hand writer to report the story of his life, as he 
could only tell it himself; but the answer always was: "Not 
now ; some time when we both have more leisure we will un- 
dertake it together." Alas ! his light, like that of Dickens, was 
quenched in a second. Both these men were unrivaled talk- 

S 



4IO ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

ers, and they liked to talk among their friends. How full and 
affluent their memories ! how varied their trials ! how unusual 
their triumphs ! One hour with Forrest, in private, when he was 
in the vein, was better than an evening with him on the stage. 
He was full of wit. Conversation brought him out ; and it was 
wonderful how easily he unfolded his stores of information. 
Foreign manners ; domestic customs ; the vicissitudes of his 
early life ; his sketches of the public men he knew at home and 
abroad ; his adventures in the old stage-coach, on steam-boats, 
and cars ; his favorite books ; his pictures ; his statuary ; his 
amazing repertoire of quotations and imitations ; even his prej- 
udices — as these fell from his lips — would have made a volume 
almost as interesting as " Boswell's Johnson." And this may 
be said with even greater truth of Charles Dickens. Both died 
suddenly, " in the twinkling of an eye," and the loss to the 
world is beyond reparation. When we think how easy the art 
of autobiography has been made by modern invention, it is pain- 
ful to think how men, whose lives are crowded with knowledge 
that should survive, postpone the pleasing task of recording 
their recollections. What better materials for history than 
these personal details ! Object as we may to the fashion of in- 
terviewing public characters, there is no reading like the reports 
of their habits and ideas, and none more enduringly preserved. 
Louis Napoleon is dead, and nothing that we have of him will 
be more profitably recalled than Chevalier Wikoff's admirable 
conversations with him after the fall of Sedan, in the New York 
Herald. What a fine talker says in his social hours to a friend 
is very different from what he writes. There is a sparkle in his 
words, a flow in his sentiments, a freedom in his manner, that 
can be photographed only by the quick skill of the short-hand 
writer ; and once down, they last like the paintings of a great 
master. A fair copy of Senator Nye's quaint sayings and odd 
stories at one dinner-party would be a classic. The bright hoit 
mots of William M. Evarts, if they could be recovered, would 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 411 

shine like gems in the choicest magazine. A night with Oliver 
Wendell Holmes would supply gossip more delightful to liter- 
ature than any thing he has achieved in " The Autocrat of the 
Breakfast Table." Henry C. Carey, of Philadelphia, much as 
he has written, is never so happy as when he relates the inci- 
dents of other days at his " vespers." My cherished and la- 
mented friend, William Prescott Smith, used to set the cars in a 
roar with his matchless skill in satire and in story. Nothing is 
more eagerly read and re-read than a pleasant autobiography 
or diary, whether it be Pepy's, Benjamin Franklin's, Boswell's 
Johnson, Coleridge's Conversations, Crabbe Robinson's, the 
recollections of the actor Young, by his son, or the works of the 
elder Mathews. And if John Forster could have added a vol- 
ume of Charles Dickens's own experiences, as these fell from 
his lips, to the two he has already published, his book would be 
without a rival in modern biography. The difference between 
autobiography and biography is thus quaintly drawn by the 
French author, H. A. Taine, in his late work on " The History 
of English Literature :" 

"On the day after the burial of a celebrated man his friends 
and enemies apply themselves to the work : his school-fellows 
relate in the newspapers his boyish pranks ; another recalls ex- 
actly, and word for word, the conversations he had with him a 
score of years ago. The lawyer who manages the affairs of the 
deceased draws up a list of the different offices he has filled, 
his titles, dates, and figures, and reveals to the matter-of-fact 
readers how the money left has been invested, and how the for- 
tune has been made ; the grandnephews and second cousins 
publish an account of his acts of humanity, and the catalogue 
of his domestic virtues. If there is no literary genius in the 
family, they select an Oxford man, conscientious, learned, who 
treats the dead like a Greek author, amasses endless docu- 
ments, involves them in endless comments, crowns the whole 
with endless discussion, and comes ten years later, some Christ- 



412 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

mas morning, with his white tie and placid smile, to present to 
the assembled family three quartos of 800 pages, the easy style 
of which would send a German from Berlin to sleep. He is 
embraced by them with tears in their eyes ; they make him sit 
down ; he is the chief ornament of the festivities ; and his work 
is sent to the Edinburgh Review. The latter groans at the sight 
of the enormous present, and tells off a young and intrepid 
member of the staff to concoct some kind of a biography from 
the table of contents. Another advantage of posthumous biog- 
raphy is that the dead man is no longer there to refute either 
biographer or man of learning." 

[January 12, 1873.] 



XCVI. 

William Hazlitt, in his delightful " Table Talk," describes 
an "Indian juggler," and makes his theme the occasion of 
some humorous and sensible reflections. Meeting Signor An- 
tonio Blitz at a last New-year's reception, in his sixty-third year, 
I was reminded of that curious essay, and of the Signor's claims 
to favorable recollection. His face is fresh, though not unwrink- 
led ; his hair and beard are white ; his eyes bright ; his step 
quick ; his vivacity fairly contagious. Here is a character who 
has grown rich as a proficient in legerdemain, yet has outlived 
criticism, and by the practice of a genuine philanthropy, and 
the observance of his duties as a citizen, made himself an hon- 
orable name. For fifty years he has contributed to the inno- 
cent enjoyment of old and young. His peculiar talents, early 
shown, induced his father to send him out upon the world when 
he was a little over thirteen, making his first appearance at Ham- 
burg, playing in succession at Lubeck, Potsdam, and the prin- 
cipal cities of Northern Europe, every where exciting wonder 



ANTONIO BLITZ. 413 

as "The Mysterious Boy." After two years of adventure, the 
youngster returned home, in time to be folded in his motlier's 
arms and to see her die. He was fifteen when he appeared in 
England, and had rare success, but did not venture upon the 
London boards till he was eighteen. Good fortune welcomed 
him from the first, and would have waited on him to the last had 
he not been cheated by his managers. His Irish and Scotch 
tours were full of incident and anecdote. In 1S34, in his twen- 
ty-fifth year, he landed in America, and performed at Niblo's 
Garden, where he met Norton, the great cornet-player, so well 
known in Philadelphia, and witnessed the long contest between 
him and his rival on the same instrument. Signer Gambati, and 
played some of his best tricks on Hamblin and Price, the dis- 
tinguished theatrical managers. After a tour of New England 
and the West, he appeared in Philadelphia under the patronage 
of Maelzel, the proprietor of the celebrated Automaton Chess 
Player, the Burning of Moscow, the Automaton Trumpeter, and 
the wonderful Rope Dancer, and made his bow at the northeast 
corner of Eighth and Chestnut Streets in that city. What scenes 
of our childhood come back to us at the mere mention of these 
names ! He next journeyed through the South, the British 
Provinces, the West Indies, beginning at Barbadoes and ending 
at Havana. After his return to the United States he settled 
in Philadelphia, where he has ever since resided, to use his own 
words, " In my own house, with ample means for all the neces- 
saries and comforts of life, surrounded by a host of near and 
dear friends, whose warm hearts and smiling faces always greet 
and cheer me." It was in Philadelphia that he spent most of 
his time, not relaxing his work, and giving pleasure to thou- 
sands of all conditions in life, in public and in private. No so- 
cial party in the winter is complete without his cheering pres- 
ence and amusing deceptions. 

I have read th6 autobiography of Signer Blitz, published in 
1872, not so much because it is the story of a successful nee- 



414 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

romancer, as to show how invariably he turned his talent to 
good account, and how often a ventriloquist and a "magician" 
may accomplish what defies the physician, the law}^r, and the 
philosopher. Some of these experiences will show that the 
good Signor has not labored as a mere juggler, but has left a 
broad white mark in history showing that he had a higher as- 
piration than the tricks of his trade. 

His landlady in London was so alarmed by his skill, which 
she regarded as superhuman, that she begged him to leave her 
house. " Do go away sir, do ; and, there, let me give you this, 
and perhaps you will not be tempted again ;" and she handed 
him a Bible. He accepted it ; but, on opening it, found and 
handed her a five-pound note from between the leaves, placed 
there quietly by himself, and then she felt that he was not in 
league with Satan. This same landlady had a son, who was the 
pride of her heart, but secretly an inveterate gambler, who play- 
ed away all his earnings, and finally used his employers' money. 
The Signor resolved to save him if the young man would agree 
to his conditions. He gladly consented, and the Signor was 
duly introduced to the gambling- saloon, and began to play 
cards. At first he lost, but gradually won until he had secured 
one hundred and fifty pounds, when, with his friend, he left the 
place. But let Mr. Blitz tell the sequel : 

" After I had gained the street, and was a considerable way 
from the house, where my visit had not been a very agreeable 
one to some, who wished me to remain longer, I turned and 
said : ' There, Harry, you see what I have done. This fortune, 
as you gamblers call it, is a cheat, and the money which I have 
taken from those scoundrels who robbed you, was done in ac- 
cordance with their own principles. Here are the cards I played 
with,' and beneath the light of a street-lamp I showed him a 
pack of cards, so arranged that I could always hold the game 
in my hands. Besides, I designated marks by which I could 
tell the character of every card in the hands of my opponents. 



VENTRILOQUISM. 415 

'There,' said I, 'in those and similar ways lies the art of gam- 
bhng. You have been duped, but I know that you will not be 
so again. 

" ' I see it all — but now it is too late !' exclaimed the poor 
fellow. ' Now I see my disgrace.' 

" ' Not yet; promise me but one thing and you shall be saved.' 

" ' What is it ? I will do — aye, be any thing, only for my poor 
mother's sake.' 

" ' Give me your word of honor, then, that you will never again 
touch card or dice-box, and there is the money which I have 
won. Take it ; pay back the sum which you have taken from 
your employers, make what honest and true account you can to 
your mother, and remember as long as you live the night of the 
loth of March, 1829.' 

" The young man promised, and I never had occasion to 
doubt but that he kept his word." 

He not only puzzled and amused the ignorant, but the edu- 
cated and the scientific, among the latter the celebrated Dr. 
Crampton, of Dublin, forty years ago, who fled with his students 
from his dissecting-room, when the Signor, who was present, 
threw his voice into the body of a female subject, and protested 
against the sacrifice. At Limerick, one of the female servants 
stole some jewelry from one of the ladies, and the Signor was 
called on to point out the culprit. He called all the servants 
of the hotel together, told them of the theft, and said he knew 
the guilty one was in the room ; but, to avoid all exposure, he 
would wait a few hours, to give a chance for the return of the 
property. At midnight the poor girl came to his room, gave 
back the jewelry, and on her knees begged forgiveness, and 
prayed she might not be exposed, as it was her first offense. 
He promised, kept his faith to her, and restored the trinkets to 
their owner. The incident added vastly to his fame. A ras- 
cally tax-collector was seen carrying off one of his rabbits, and 
the Signor proceeded to his house and demanded it. The 



41 6 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

scamp denied his crime, and a dispute ensued, when the rabbit 
broke from its concealment, exclaiming, in a gruff tone, " You 
are a scamp, and the Lord have mercy on your soul." "Who 
dares call me a scamp ?" screamed the thief. " I do !" the 
rabbit answered. "You never paid a ha'penny for me, Ryan. 
Did you not bring me here last night from the hall ? To-night 
I will call my imps from below, and take you to the deepest 
regions of fire." The scoundrel took fright, and restored the 
rabbit as one "bewitched." The whole community w^ere re- 
lieved at the detection of the dishonest official. One day he 
frightened an exorbitant landlord into decency by making a 
parrot echo his own denunciation of the tyrant. He was intro- 
duced to ex-President Van Buren (often called " the Little Ma- 
gician") in New York, and exchanged compliments, which 
closed by Mr. Van Buren saying, "I have often seen our names 
coupled, as wielding the magic wand; but I resign to you the 
superiority. You, Signor, please and delight all ages and sexes, 
while my jugglery is for political purposes." O'Connell, the 
Duke of Wellington, and many of the nobility visited his rooms, 
just as Van Buren, Clay, and Webster patronized him in this 
country. Once he saved his life by imitating a conversation 
with different persons in different voices, and mingling all with 
the barking of two dogs. This was when he lived near the 
New York Croton Works, while they were in course of construc- 
tion, and when Fifty-third Street was beset by ruffians. His 
jokes were never cruel, as, for instance, his taking a bottle of 
whisky out of the hat of Governor Briggs, of Massachusetts, a 
noted temperance man, or his asking the Boston philanthropist, 
Josiah Bradley, to lend him his coat for one of his tricks, which 
the good old man did, to the infinite amusement of Daniel Web- 
ster, who sat in the audience. He was welcome at Harvard 
University, and played for the ahcmni and the acolytes. The 
great and graceful Justice Story came often to his exhibitions, 
and would take a seat among the boys on the front bench, en- 



CONJURATION AND MIGHTY MAGIC. 417 

joying himself to the full, " where he would laugh away dull 
care," and, returning home refreshed, " would write till morn- 
ing ; for nothing so restores the brain as a good hearty laugh." 
He met Millard Fillmore on a canal-boat in the West, and years 
after saw him in Washington, when Mr. Fillmore said, " Little 
did I expect, Signor, when traveling with you on the canal, I 
should ever become President of the United States." His de- 
scription of the great Automaton Chess Player, and of the two 
players — Maelzel, the inventor, outside, and Schlomberg within 
the figure — ^both masters of that scientific game, is full of inter- 
est. " Maelzel and Schlomberg were, in their time, the great 
living representatives of chess ; their hearts and feelings were 
so identified with the game that they dreamed of it by night 
and practiced it by day. At every meal and in all intervals a 
portable chess-board was before them. They ate, drank, and 
played, while not a word escaped their lips. It was a quiet, 
earnest, mental combat, and the anxiety of every pause and 
move was defined in each countenance, their features revealing 
what the tongue could not express." Schlomberg died of a 
fever, and poor Maelzel expired on his way from Havana to 
Philadelphia, and was buried in the ocean. The Automaton 
Chess Player was destroyed by fire with the Chinese Museum, 
and the Automaton Trumpeter is now the property of Mr. E. 
N. Scherr, the retired piano-maker of Philadelphia. He relates 
a pleasing incident of the illustrious John Bannister Gibson, 
Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, one of his best friends, who was 
surprised to find the Signor's wallet in his pocket, though he 
sat at a distance from him. His interviews with Webster and 
Clay, during John Tyler's administration, proved the respect 
they had for him. " Give me," he said to Webster, " one hun- 
dred thousand Treasury notes to count, and watch closely, and 
you will find only seventy-five thousand when I return them." 
"Signor," responded Webster, with lively animation, "there is 
no chance ; there are better magicians here than you ; there 

S 2 



4l8 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

would not be fifty thousand left after their counting." Henry 
Clay asked him to visit the Senate Chamber and throw his voice 
among his Democratic friends, so that they might vote for the 
measures they had opposed, and added, " It would cause a glo- 
rious excitement among the Democracy." He met John Quincy 
Adams in Canada, and was much impressed by his conversa- 
tion. In his tour to the West Indies he had a fine field in the 
superstitions of the people. They regarded him as something 
more than mortal, and called on him to work impossibilities. 
The sick, the lame, the blind, the unfortunate, hailed him as the 
good physician. He told them he was no dealer in miracles, 
no spiritualist, no astrologer, nothing but an artist traveling to 
make a living for himself by giving innocent pleasure to others, 
and at the same time to show by his own progress the progress 
of science. Yet, with these qualities, he did what many an an- 
cient necromancer would have failed in. He reconciled hostile 
parents to the marriage of faithful lovers ; frightened the drunk- 
ard into temperance ; infused courage into a ship's crew during 
a storm at sea, and once compelled the restoration of her for- 
tune to a poor girl by making the portrait of the dead brother 
of the dishonest guardian speak in stern rebuke of his guilt. 
But no part of this curious character is so agreeable as his con- 
stant attendance upon the insane. With his birds, his rabbits, 
his ventriloquy, he is greeted with joy by the poor creatures, 
whose minds, "like sweet bells jangled out of tune," are made 
briefly happy by his kindness and his skill. During the war he 
was omnipresent in the hospitals, performing gratuitously to the 
maimed and broken, filling the hours of convalescence with joy, 
and smoothing the pillows of the weary. He gave one hundred 
and thirty-two entertainments before sixty-three thousand sol- 
diers, and three weeks, every afternoon and evening, at the 
" Great Sanitary Fair," in Logan Square, Philadelphia. All 
this work was gratuitous, I quote from his autobiography his 
own idea of his mission : 



A POPULAR RENDEZVOUS. 419 

" Such witless sighing and croaking oddly contrast with the 
full free bursts of glee which break forth from the merry troops 
of children we meet on every hand, or the loud and joyous songs 
of the bright birds, to whose pure notes the streams and winds 
join their full chorus. 

" It was a laugh which gave birth to Eden's first echo, and 
why not let it still live on ? 

" He who gives us one hour's pure pleasure is a far greater 
philanthropist than he who prates of charity and heaven, which 
can only be obtained, so says his creed, by passing through 
lives of sighing, fasting, and continued slavish fear of Him who 
would have us in all things free, living for the beautiful and 
good alone." 

This is my ninety-sixth anecdote ; and yet, among the nu- 
merous characters I have attempted to describe, no one has 
done more to promote the happiness of his fellow-beings than 
Antonio Blitz. 

[January 19, 1873.] 



XCVH. 

For m'any years before the war the northwest corner of Sev- 
enth and Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, was a popular resort 
of public men of all sides. The head of the house was Harry 
Connelly, one of the handsomest men I ever knew, and full of 
excellent traits. You would not have taken him for the propri- 
etor, with his exquisite dress, ruffled shirt, and easy manner. 
He was like one of his guests, and left his business to a bright 
mulatto called " Lew," who was the factotum of the concern, 
and relieved his employer from a world of care. Both master 
and man are gone, and the old dingy building has given way 
to a stately structure, in part of which Colonel Greene's Sunday 



420 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Transcript is printed and published : but the men who gathered 
in the ancient back room every day for years still live in many 
memories. They met involuntarily, and spent many happy 
hours. Harry Connelly saw much of society of all kinds, and 
was an especial favorite with the Southerners. He was the in- 
timate of many of the great horsemen of Kentucky, and he had 
been present at more than one desperate personal encounter. 
Naturally most amiable, he believed in the code of honor, and 
was a party to more than one "affair." A prince in expendi- 
tures, and a gentleman in manners, his rooms were sought by 
his friends far and near. "Harry Connelly's" was the scene 
of many important discussions and business operations. It 
was a rendezvous for people of diverse views and objects — 
a sort of neutral ground, where every body uttered his own 
ideas, and where every gentleman was tolerated. And it was 
pleasant to note that those who gathered at Connelly's were 
always careful in their treatment of each other. Henry Clay 
liked Harry as one of his original supporters, and frequently 
dropped in with his friend, ex-Mayor John Swift ; Daniel Web- 
ster, who stopped at Hartwell's (now Bolton's) Washington 
House, two doors off, liked to take one of the rickety arm- 
chairs and talk to the pleasant host, and John J. Crittenden 
would stay for hours to gossip over the times. I have met in 
this dark back room, with its low, cobwebbed ceiling, most of 
the public characters between 1845 ^"^ i860. Robert T. Con- 
rad, author of " Jack Cade," and Robert M. Bird, author of the 
" Gladiator ;" David Wilmot and Henry M. Fuller ; John C. 
Breckinridge and Jesse D. Bright ; James Buchanan and John 
Slidell ; Josiah Randall (father of the present Representative 
from the First Congressional District, Pennsylvania), and James 
Watson Webb ; George W. Barton and Ovid F. Johnson; James 
A. Bayard, who was a Senator in Congress, and George Gor- 
don; Stephen A. Douglas and W. A. Richardson; John R. 
Thompson, of New Jersey, and George Law, of New York ; the 



VARIOUS HANDWRITINGS. 42 1 

Pennsylvania Governors, D. R. Porter, W. F. Packer, W. F. 
Johnston, and Andrew G. Curtin ; George Ashmun and Charles 
F. Train, of Massachusetts ; Thaddeus Stevens, Jack Ogle, Dr. 
William Elder, Justice Thompson, Henry S. Magraw, Aristides 
Welch, D. K. Jackman, A. K. McClure, Charles Wister, of Penn- 
sylvania, were among the visitors. You met there the kings of 
finance, of the stage, of the turf, and of politics. It was altogeth- 
er a novelty, a spontaneous growth. I look over the long cata- 
logue of those who made "Harry Connelly's" their head-quar- 
ters, and discover that while most of them are dead, none who 
survive can fail to realize that when our generous friend was 
himself called away we lost one of the few who was never half 
so happy as when he was making others happy. 
[January 24, 1873.] 



XCVHI. 

The art of caligraphy, or fair handwriting, is one of the most 
useful of accomplishments, and the manner in which a man 
puts down his thoughts is often taken as an index to his char- 
acter. But it is a great mistake to suppose that all our states- 
men, old and new, did not or do not write plainly, and that the 
habit of rapid composition and heavy correspondence leads to 
carelessness. Washington's State papers, his letters, and his 
accounts, are models of order and cleanliness, rather set off by 
his antique spelling. James Madison wrote a small, beautiful 
hand, in keeping with his chaste and classic oratory. General 
Jackson wrote with the direct boldness of his nature, though 
somewhat indifferent to his orthography. James Buchanan 
prided himself upon his cautious style, his careful spelling, his 
exact punctuation, and the absence of interlineations. Henry 
Clay wrote plainly, like an outspoken and intrepid soul. Web- 



422 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

ster's hand, without being ornate, was strong. George M. Dal- 
las was a master of the art. Nothing could be more exquisite or 
more graceful, in manner and matter, than his notes and letters. 
John Van Buren was not nearly so exact as his great father. 
Albert Gallatin wrote like copper-plate. I hold in my hand a 
letter of his, dated New York, April, 1843, in which, referring 
to Thomas Jefferson, he says: "As the testimony of the only 
surviving member of Jefferson's Cabinet— as one entirely ac- 
quainted with him, who enjoyed his entire confidence — I can 
bear witness to the purity of his character, and to his sincere 
conviction of the truth of those political tenets which he con- 
stantly and openly avowed and promulgated. I do also aver, 
with a thorough knowledge of the facts, that for his elevation 
Thomas Jefferson was solely in debt to the sense entertained 
of his public services, and of his well-known political opinions, 
and that he was, altogether, the spontaneous choice of the peo- 
ple — not promoted by any intrigue, nor ever nominated by any 
assembly or convention, but without any preconcerted action, 
and yet without competitor, selected unanimously in every quar- 
ter as their candidate by the majority which elected him." No 
lady in the land could surpass this fine autograph. Martin Van 
Buren's tribute to Jefferson is written in a rather large hand, 
and in a flowing style. He says, " With the single exception of 
General Washington, no man ever lived whose claims upon the 
gratitude of mankind for public services were greater than those 
of Jefferson." How beautifully the lamented William Wilkins, 
of Pittsburgh, whose venerable widow is now living in elegant 
retirement in Philadelphia, spoke on the same theme in the 
same year : "Why is it," he asks, in a most satisfactory hand- 
writing, "that time, so fatal to ordinary reputations, only serves 
to brighten the fame of him we delight to honor ? The cause 
is not to be found in any or all the great actions of his life, 
however illustrious ; it is due to that of which all these were but 
the outward manifestation, of the earnest and deep-seated con- 



publicists' autography. 423 

fidence of the people. He loved and trusted his species — he 
has taught us this great secret of his confidence." And here 
before me are two letters, one from each of the rival candidates 
for Governor of Pennsylvania thirty years ago — Henry E. Muh- 
lenberg and Francis R. Shunk — both accurate and intelligible, 
and that of Shunk unusually bold and large. Thomas Ritchie 
wrote a hand not quite so difficult to make out as that of Mr. 
Greeley, but in the same style. His editorials were dashed off 
in great haste, sometimes on long slips, sometimes on small 
ones, and he composed with extraordinary facility. General 
Cass, who wrote much, and always like a scholar, had an edito- 
rial hand ; while Andrew Stevenson, of Virginia, father of the 
present Senator from Kentucky, could have set copies for a 
country school, and yet in the ardor of composition he would 
make himself very difficult to decipher. Senator Sumner's 
writing is characteristically large and distinct ; short sentences, 
carefully pointed, good ink, and excellent stationery — somewhat 
after the Parliamentary fashion. He is a prodigious worker, 
and, I fear, even in his prostration, can not keep his hand from 
pen and pencil. Caleb Gushing writes very rapidly, and it re- 
quires one familiar with his manuscript to interpret it. Of all 
men, however, none was harder to understand than Thaddeus 
Stevens. I have some notes of his which would puzzle an ex- 
pert. John Lothrop Motley, the historian, is singularly precise. 
Thackeray seemed to rejoice in small feminine characters, and 
took great delight, in his letters to his friends, in decorating the 
border with all manner of curious caricatures. Robert T. Con- 
rad, the poet, was a most delicate and dilettante writer. Some 
of his poems were not less models of literary beauty than of 
mechanical taste. William B. Reed, so well known in politics 
and in literature, writes a hand much like the venerable Henry 
C. Carey — fair to look upon, but sometimes hard to decipher. 
Stephen A. Douglas dashed off his letters without much regard 
to appearance. He seemed to be always under a high pressure, 



424 



ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 



and what he wrote was written with intense feeling. John C. 
Fremont signs his name boldly, a little after the Dickens style. 
William H. Seward was excessively particular in the prepara- 
tion of his speeches, and composed with deliberation. I heard 
an old stenographer say that after he had taken down Mr. Sew- 
ard, literally, in one of his greatest efforts, and presented him 
the full report, the statesman recast the whole discourse, and sent 
it to the printers in his own hand. Senator Morton writes in 
bold, round characters. Thurlow Weed's is significantly edito- 
rial — anybody who sees it can tell that he has reeled off multi- 
tudinous leaders. McMichael, of the North American, writes 
nervously, in straight lines, frequently hard to solve. He would 
be a fortune to any newspaper if he would allow a short-hand 
reporter to take down the words as they fall from his lips. We 
have no better debater nor conversationahst. Boker, the poet, 
prides himself upon his cool and dainty chirography. Rufus 
Choate was a dreadful affliction to the printers when they got 
hold of his legal papers, and the man who most resembled him, 
in his time, George W. Barton, of Pennsylvania, was almost as 
prolific in his oratory as in his handwriting, and it was far eas- 
ier to enjoy his magnificent rhetoric than his written sentences. 
Fillmore's style was methodical and slow ; Pierce's quick, bold, 
and legible; Lincoln's small, careful, and rather labored; 
Grant's unpretending, and easily read. Perhaps I can not bet- 
ter terminate this desultory anecdote than by giving you the 
following copy of an autograph letter, now before me, written 
by Edwin Forrest in 1856, when he sent a subscription of two 
hundred dollars to the treasurer of the Democratic Committee 
of Pennsylvania to defray the expenses of electing James Bu- 
chanan. It is very carefully composed, and indicates the busi- 
ness exactitude which marked him throughout life. The verse 
of poetry which he inclosed with his check seemed to have 
been cut from a country newspaper, and was pinned to his sig- 
nature : 



PROPHECY FULFILLED. 



425 



"Boston, November 29, 1856. 
" My Dear Sir, — You must excuse me for not replying sooner to your 
letter of the 21st inst., but an unusual press of business, and other matters, 
prevented me from doing so at an earlier period. 

" I herein inclose you a check for two hundred dollars, which you will 
apply to the liquidation of the debt incurred by the Democratic Committee 
during the late political canvass. Truly yours, 

"Edwin Forrest. 

" ' When Fremont raised a flag so high, 

On Rocky Mountain's peak, 
One little busy bee did fly, 

And light upon his cheek ; 
But when November's ides arrive, 

To greet the Colonel's sight, 
Straight from the Democratic hive 

Two B's will on him light — 

Buck and Breck.' " 
[February 9, 1873.] 



XCIX. 

A REPUBLIC in Spain, bloodless as yet, and therefore full of 
promise of permanence, is indisputably the significant event of 
the times. As a peaceful revolution, it is a menace more for- 
midable than armies to the absolute powers. As a result of 
free opinion and fearless discussion, it marks the education of 
nations and their upward growth to good government. Exactly 
how it will progress, or where it will end, save that it is one of 
those advances that know " no retiring ebb," it is not neces- 
sary to debate. The formal and almost unanimous proclama- 
tion of the Spanish Republic, and the abdication of the foreign 
Italian King, remind me of an anecdote which may now be re- 
lated as an instance of prophecy fulfilled. Edwin M. Stanton 
was always friendly to Daniel E. Sickles, and when the latter 
was most bitterly assailed he had a stanch champion in the 



426 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

great lawyer, before and after he was a member of Lincoln's 
Cabinet. He believed the talents of Sickles were too signal not 
to be made use of during the war, and when the war was end- 
ed and Grant was President, he strongly urged that the accom- 
plished New-Yorker should be called into the diplomatic serv- 
ice. When, therefore, General Sickles was appointed Amer- 
ican Minister to Spain, in 1869, Mr. Stanton was much gratified. 
The ex-Secretary was at home at his residence, on K Street, 
Washington, D. C., when General Sickles and myself called on 
him. He was reclining on his bed as we entered his chamber, 
but he rose and greeted us heartily. It was evident that he 
was doomed. Worn out in one of the severest struggles that 
ever taxed human energy, and wasted in the weary conflict with 
Andrew Johnson, all that was left was the clear and magnetic 
brain. Walter Scott in his magnificent "Talisman" describes 
Richard of the Lion Heart sick in his tent among the Crusad- 
ers, and that splendid portraiture might have "been applied to 
the invalid Secretary, with his feeble frame, and eager, nervous 
interest in passing events. Nothing escaped him. He was m 
rapport with the whole machinery of afiairs, full of solicitude 
for Grant, and earnest for exact justice to all sections. "I 
wanted to see you both," he said ; " you. General, as the new 
Minister to Spain, and you, Forney, as my steady newspaper 
firiend. We must make no mistake about Spain. She is one 
of our oldest and ablest allies, and behaved splendidly to us 
during the rebellion, refusing to open her ports to the Confed- 
erate cruisers, and never plotting through her Minister here, 
like England, against our cause. The Spaniards are a proud, 
peculiar race, and we can not do any good for liberty in Cuba 
by hasty action. Their prejudices must be respected ; their in- 
terests must not be invaded ; their traditions must be remem- 
bered. Things are moving in the right way at Madrid. I know 
this, gentlemen. There is a new Spain, and you will both live 
to see a solid Spanish Republic there if we can only restrain 



GEORGE W. CHILDS. 427 

our politicians about Cuba. That pear is ripening, and will 
fall as soon as the days of the kings are ended in Spain." 
There was much more, equally emphatic and pointed. The 
wise, cautious, yet fearless conduct of General Sickles at the 
Spanish court greatly aided the Republican cause, and contrib- 
uted much to the preservation of peaceful relations with the 
United States, and I have no doubt that this sagacious and 
prophetic counsel of Mr. Stanton was always present in the 
memory of the American Minister at Madrid. 

[February 16, 1873.] 



C. 

On January 15, 187 1, the first of these anecdotes, of which this 
is the last, appeared in the Washington Sunday Morning Chron- 
icle. Written to rescue some of my experiences of men and 
things, they grew upon my hands until I found myself pledged 
to extend them to a hundred. As I review the curious medley, 
they resemble a picture-gallery crowded with familiar faces, 
many of them, in fact most of them, dead; and, alas ! not a few 
within the little more than two years during which these hasty 
sketches have appeared. 

Following out the plan of delineating the best traits of my 
subjects, just as the painter conceals the blemishes even as he 
achieves a faithful portrait, I have also attempted to discover 
the objective point of every life, especially if this could be set 
out as an example to the young. What better theme could I 
desire, then, than George W. Childs, the proprietor oiThePtcblic 
Ledger,^ho will not be forty-four till May 12, 1873? He has 
accomplished as much in the last quarter of a century, and has 
done as much for his fellow-beings, as any character within my 
recollection. In his fifteenth year he came to Philadelphia, like 



428 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

Benjamin Franklin, without a friend or a dollar. His only 
wealth was industry, perseverance, and a stout heart, and with 
these resistless weapons he fought his way through inconceiva- 
ble obstacles, until he has become the living illustration of that 
noble characteristic, so rare among men of affluence — the ac- 
cumulation of riches^ not for hhnself alone, but to make others 
happy during and after his life. I take it that a man who 
utilizes such a theory can afford to be criticised, as Mr. Childs 
has been, by a few of those who never see a good action with- 
out seeking a selfish motive for it. But a fine example is its 
own best eulogy. It lives and it lasts. It bears fruit before 
our eyes and refutes censure by practical results. Instances 
like this are infrequent. Wealth too often breeds avarice and 
suspicion. Too many hoard money for a graceless posterity, and 
in blind selfishness make themselves miserable while they live, 
that they may leave fortunes to spendthrift children. The career 
of this young man, Childs, teaches so different a lesson, that a 
friendly reference may perhaps stimulate others to an earnest 
imitation of it. And when we read this career in the light of 
the story of The Public Ledger, and how he got possession of it, 
and how he has improved and enhanced it, it sounds very like 
a romance. 

The first number of The Ledger appeared March 25, 1836. 
The proprietors were three journeymen printers — W.M.Swain, 
Arunah S.Abell, and A. H.Simmons. It was published at six 
cents a week, and rapidly rose into a great circulation, not alone 
because its proprietors were energetic, but because they were 
bold and independent. Wisely employing the powerful pen 
of Russell Jarvis, they took the right side of every question, 
and especially the right of the people to assemble in public 
meeting and discuss all matters of principle or policy. The 
Ledger did not hesitate to criticise courts and juries, and to ex- 
pose oppression, and was soon involved in a libel suit, which it 
met with a pluck that excited universal applause. Jarvis was a 



PUBLIC LEDGER. 429 

writer of vast ability, a little too personal and trenchant, but 
possessing a style of rare force and fascination. He grappled 
with every question. He chastised the rowdyism of the stu- 
dents of the two great medical colleges, who had long terrorized 
the cit}''; he denounced, with terrible invective, the burning of 
Pennsylvania Hall on the 17 th of May, 1838, by a mob of mad- 
men, resolved that no speeches against human slavery should 
be delivered in Philadelphia ; and when that infamous coward- 
ice was followed by attempts on the two succeeding days to 
destroy the asylum for colored children on Thirteenth Street, 
above Callowhill, and the African Church in Lombard Street, 
near Sixth, the mob made several demonstrations against The 
Ledger office ; but as it was known that Mr. Swain was in hearty 
sympathy with his brave editor, and was prepared to defend his 
property at every hazard, the ruffians were cowed. Not less 
fierce were The Ledger's denunciations of the Native American 
riots in 1844. Such newspaper courage was uncommon in 
Philadelphia, and for a time The Ledger suffered severely, but it 
gradually recovered its prestige, and grew into enormous in- 
fluence. It was after these events that George W. Childs, a lad 
of eighteen, who had worked as an errand boy in a bookstore 
three years before, hired a little room in The Ledger building. 
Here he waited his opportunity. Sixteen years after, December 
3, 1864, he startled the town by the announcement that he had 
purchased the great paper. 

The example set by the original proprietors was not forgotten. 
There is at least equal enterprise, the same independence, tem- 
pered by a less personal tone, and the same vigilance over the 
interests of Philadelphia and the State. But a new element 
pervades the establishment — an element characteristic of Mr. 
Childs in his first successful business venture — that of helping 
others out of his own fortune. A few instances will show how 
steadily he has worked to this end. Before he was twenty-one 
he was in the firm of Childs & Peterson, book publishers. A 



430 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

work compiled by Mr. Peterson, entitled " Familiar Science," 
young Childs pushed into a circulation of two hundred thousand 
copies. Dr. Kane's " Arctic Expedition" he put forth in splen- 
did style, and paid a profit to the author of $70,000. He en- 
gineered Senator Brownlow's book in the same way, and paid 
over to the eccentric Tennesseean a premium of $15,000. More 
than any other influence he deserves the credit of the great 
success of that massive work, " Allibone's Dictionary of Authors." 
The following tribute on one of the initial pages of that book — 
perhaps the most indispensable in every library — is more en- 
during than any title of nobility : 

"To George W. Childs, the original publisher of this volume, who has 
greatly furthered my labors by his enterprise, and zealous and intelligent in- 
terest, I dedicate the fruits of many years of anxious research and conscien- 
tious toil. S. Austin Allibone." 

George W. Childs never fails a friend. His brother publish- 
er, George P. Putnam, of New York, prints a letter in which he 
gratefully acknowledges the prompt and cheerful manner in 
which Childs gave him his name as security for $100,000 in his 
hour of adversity. After referring to this act of substantial 
friendship, Mr. Putnam speaks of Mr. Childs as publisher oillie 
Ledger: " Such an enterprise as would positively frighten most 
of us timid and slow-moving old fogies, you in your shrewd en- 
ergy and wide-awake sagacity enter upon as a positive. You 
wave your magic wand, and, lo ! palaces rise, and the genii of 
steam and lightning send forth from their subterranean cells 
and lofty attics thousands of daily messages over the continent; 
and fortune follows deservedly, because you regulate all these 
powers on liberal principles of justice and truth." 

There are three hundred and nine employes in The Ledger 
establishment, exclusive of the newsboys. At a Fourth of July 
dinner given to them by Mr. Childs in 1867, the accomplished 
general manager, the leading editorial writer, W. V. McKean, 
made some interesting statements. These workingmen, he 



GREAT NEWSPAPER ESTABLISHMENT. 43 1 

said, represent a large amount of individual capital, not less 
than half a million. " The carriers, although they do not make 
the highest wages, have been among the thriftiest of the em- 
ployes, and'the aggregate value of their Ledger routes would sell 
at the Merchants' Exchange, as readily as Government securi- 
ties, for a sum not less than two hundred and fifty thousand dol- 
lars." At the same time, Mr. Muckle, who has charge of the cash 
department, " referred to what he considered the great feature 
of the day — the assemblage of one hundred and ten newsboys, 
where all was joy and happiness. Here again was another evi- 
dence of Mr. Childs's kindness ; and, as another striking proof 
of his kind disposition, he would state that during the two years 
of the present proprietorship he had dispensed for him more 
money in charity than was given during all his twenty-three 
years' connection with the establishment." 

These three hundred and nine employes sent to Mr. Childs 
a testimonial, in which they called him their honored and es- 
teemed employer, and expressed their heartfelt thanks for his 
great kindness and consideration for all of them, continued 
without intermission since he had been proprietor oi The Piihlic 
Ledger; 

" For your innumerable acts of generosity and courtesy, of 
which all of them have been the frequent and gratified recip- 
ients ; 

" For your goodness of heart, your benevolence, your enter- 
prise, and your cardinal virtues, which not only honor you, but 
reflect honor upon those who labor for you ; 

" For the uniform justice with which you have ruled The Pub- 
lic Ledger q^cq^ — a justice always tempered with mercy — a 
mercy always anxious to pardon ; 

" And, above all, honored sir, your employes desire to thank 
you : 

" For having built a palace for them to work in ; a printing- 
house which is unparalleled in the world ; a printing-office which. 



432 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

in all its departments, is the most healthy, comfortable, and spa- 
cious on the American continent. 

" For all this, and more than this, that you have done for 
them, your employes desire, though it be in insufficient words, 
to convey to you their most sincere thanks." 

What this gratitude means was told by the lamented Ellis 
Lewis, former Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, at the dedication 
of the Printers' Cemetery, a gift of Mr. Childs to the Philadel- 
phia Typographical Society. I was present on that occasion, 
and can never forget the effect produced by the following words 
of the venerable man, now in his grave : 

" Some men pursue military glory, and expend their time and 
energies in the subjugation of nations ; Caesar and Napoleon I. 
may be named as types of this character. But the blood and 
tears which follow violence and wrong maculate the pages of 
history on which their glory is recorded. Others erect splen- 
did palaces for kingly residences, and costly temples and edi- 
fices for the promotion of education and religion, in accordance 
with their particular views. But views of education and relig- 
ion change, buildings waste away, and whole cities, like Hercu- 
laneum and Pompeii, are buried in the earth. Others, again, 
win public regard by the construction of means of communica- 
tion for the furtherance of commerce. The canals, railroads, 
and telegraphs are glorious specimens of their useful exertions 
for the public good. But the marts of commerce change. Tyre 
and Sidon and Venice are no longer commercial centres. The 
shores of the Pacific are even now starting in a race against the 
great commercial emporium of our continent. But Mr. Childs 
has planted himself in the human heart, and he will have his 
habitation there while man shall live upon earth. He has laid 
the foundation of his monument upon universal benevolence. 
Its superstructure is composed of good and noble deeds. Its 
spire is the love of God, which ascends to heaven. Such a 
monument is indeed 



CHIEF JUSTICE LEWIS. 433 

" ' A pyramid so wide and high, 
That Cheops stands in envy by.' 

"I have not enumerated the numerous private charities of 
Mr. Childs. The magnificent building which he erected for The 
Ledger at a cost of half a million dollars, as a newspaper estab- 
lishment, is unparalleled in the world ; and he could not erect 
this building without providing that the press-room, composing- 
room, and reporters' room, and every other room where his em- 
ployes are engaged, should be carefully warmed, ventilated, and 
lighted, so that they should be comfortable in their employment, 
and enjoy good health in their industry. Even the outside cor- 
ners of his splendid building could not be constructed without 
bringing to the large heart of Mr. Childs the wants of the weary 
wayfarer on a hot summer day. Therefore it was that each cor- 
ner is provided with a marble fountain to furnish a cup of cold 
water to every one who is thirsty- Mr. Childs provides for the 
health of his employes during life. He has introduced bath- 
rooms into various parts of the building for the use of the work- 
ingmen, who avail themselves freely of the privilege afforded 
them. He secures an insurance on their lives for the benefit 
of their families after death, and even then he does not desert 
them — he provides this beautiful and magnificent burial-lot for 
the repose of their lifeless bodies. Such a man surely deserves 
the love and gratitude of his fellow-creatures on earth, and the 
blessings of his Creator in the world to come." 

No charity appeals to Childs in vain ; no object of patriot- 
ism ; no great enterprise ; no sufferer from misfortune, whether 
the ex-Confederate or the stricken foreigner. He enjoys the 
confidence of President Grant, and yet was among the first to 
send a splendid subscription to the monument to Greeley. He, 
more than any other, pushed the subscription of over $100,000 
for the family of the dead hero, George G. Meade, and yet Alex- 
ander H. Stephens, of Georgia, has no firmer friend. His list of 
unpublished and unknown benevolences would give the lie to 

T 



434 ANECDOTES OF PUBLIC MEN. 

the poor story that he craves notoriety. When I carried letters 
from him to Europe in 1867, his name was a talisman, and it 
was pleasant to see how noblemen like the Duke of Bucking- 
ham honored the indorsement of an American who, thirty years 
ago, walked the streets of Philadelphia without a friend or a 
dollar. He made his money himself, not by speculation or 
office, and got none by inheritance. He coins fortune like a 
magician, and spends it like a man of heart. He likes society, 
and lives like a gentleman. He is as temperate as Horace 
Greeley ever was, and yet he never denies his friends a generous 
glass of wine. His habits are as simple as Abraham Lincoln's, 
yet his residence is a gem bright with exquisite decoration, and 
rich in every variety of art. He gives a Christmas dinner 
to newsboys and bootblacks, and dines traveling dukes and 
earls with equal ease and familiarity. He never seems to be 
at work, goes every where, sees every body, helps every body, 
and yet his great machine moves like a clock under his con- 
stant supervision. 

In a sketch like this I have no space to do more than allude 
to 77/^ Z^^^r under the management of Mr. Childs ; to the pal- 
ace, which cost, with the ground, over $500,000, in which he 
prints and publishes it, and to his circulation, running at times 
to 95,000 copies a day. But there is one aspect that must not 
be omitted as I close these anecdotes. I mean the perfect in- 
dependence of the paper in regard to local and general corrup- 
tions. It does not hesitate. It strikes out bold and quick. Its 
rhetoric is not so trenchant as that of Russell Jarvis, when he 
took " the bull by the horns " twenty and twenty-five years ago, 
and when he stirred the sensibilities of the medical students and 
the pro-slavery mobs ; but it is more effective, because more 
moderate. George W. Childs, an intimate friend of President 
Grant, does not fail to tell him in \i\^ Public Ledger, as he does, 
I hope, in his private talk, that among those who affect to sup- 
port Grant in Philadelphia, there are creatures who do not care 



TRUTH-TELLING. .^- 

435 
three continental farthings for him, except as they can use him. 
It is something to feel that there is at least one man in Phila- 
delphia who has money enough not to want any more, and who 
can afford to tell General Grant the truth without being accused 
of a longing for his favor. 



INDEX. 



Actors, Influence of, 271. 
Adams, Charles Francis, 48. 

Family, 48 ; English descent, 354. 
Henry, monument of, 354. 
President John, 48 ; Jefferson's 

character of, 392. 
Mrs. John, her social tastes, 304. 
John Quincy, Journal of, 14 ; on his 
closing years, 48 ; opposes annex- 
ation of Texas, 51 ; knew the value 
of wit, 83 ; made few personal 
friends, 146 ; Seward's Life of, 353 ; 
early letter from, 355 ; diary of, 356. 
Mrs. John Quincy, 311. 
J. Q., Jr., an "Old-line Whig" 
Democrat, 54. 
Agassiz, Professor, 299. 
Aged Publicists, 95. 

Allibone, S. Austin, his Dictionary of Au- 
thors, 430. 
Amateur Editors : James Buchanan, Thos. 
H. Benton, J. S. Black, and Caleb Cush- 
ing, 21. 
Ammen, Commodore, puts down a mutiny 

at sea, 297. 
Anti-Romanist Oratorj', 131. 
"Arkansas Traveler," a piece of domestic 

poetry, 85. 
Arlington Heights, latest repose in, 91. 
Art in America, 219. 

Astor House, New York, symposia at, 70. 
Autography of Publicists, 421. 
Automaton Chess Player and Trumpeter, 
417. 

Baker, E. D. B., scene in the Senate with 
Breckinridge, 43 ; his political predictions, 
46 ; his adopted citizenship and true pa- 
triotism, 49 ; won and retained friends, 146. 
poem by, 285. 



Baltimore, eventful occurrences in, 160 ; fir- 
ing on the Massachusetts troops, 225. 

Baltimore American, loyalty of, 159. 

Banks, Nathaniel P., elected Speaker, 379. 

Bamum's Hotel, Baltimore, exciting scene 
at, 158. 

Bamum, Zenos, his kind interest in Mr. 
Sumner, 159 ; his hotel closed and re- 
opened by authority, i6r. 

Barton, G. W., of Lancaster, 29 ; character 
of his eloquence, 30. 

Bayley, Thomas H., of Virginia, 57. 

Benjamin, Judah P., 57. 

Bennett, James Gordon, relations with Hen- 
ry Wikoff, 366 ; with President Buchan- 
an, 367. 

Benton, Thomas H., as an amateur news- 
paper writer, 21 ; anecdote of, 22. 

Biddle, Charles J., of Philadelphia, press 
banquet to, 71. 

Bingham, Mrs., her quarrel with Manager 
Wigfall, 269. 

Binney, Horace, his eulogy on John Ser- 
geant, 198 ; his public life, 201. 

Black, Jeremiah S., as a newspaper writer, 
21. 

Blair & Rives, of the Washington press, 
106. 

Blitz, Signor Antonio, his forty years in the 
New World, 413 ; autobiography of a 
conjurer, 414 ; anecdotes from, 416. 

Boker, George H., his introduction to Mr. 
Lincoln, 264 ; his patriotic poetry, 266. 

Booth, John Wilkes, assassinates President 
Lincoln, 40. 

Boston, local government of, 348. 

Brady, James T., 71. 

Breckinridge, John C. , his career and char- 
acter, 41 ; scene with Senator E. D. Baker, 
42 ; with a South Carolina Hotspur, 284. 



438 



INDEX. 



Bristol, Lord, retort to Frederick the Great, 
265. 

Broderick, David C, of California, 23 ; elect- 
ed Senator, 24 ; character of, 25 ; personal 
and prophetic speech by, 26 ; return to 
California, 27 ; slain in a put-up duel, 28 ; 
his tragic fate, 316. 

Brown, David Paul, Philadelphia lawyer, 
sketch and anecdotes of, 211. 

Buchanan James, his diary, 14 ; inspired an 
attack on T. H. Benton, 22 ; his set of an- 
ecdotes, 62 ; his twenty years' Presiden- 
tial candidacy, 67 ; a good secret-keeper, 
74 ; made few friends, 146 ; Mr. Clay's 
dislike of, 181 ; Cabinet on the eve of Re- 
bellion, 223 ; Minister to England, 317; 
his Secretary of Legation, 318 ; an English 
Boniface, 319 ; first Presidential aspira- 
tion, 324 ; successful, 325. 

Calhoun, J. C, change of his politics, 53 ; 
simplicity of his manners, 83. 

California, early days of, 314. 

Cameron, Simon, a ride with, 66 ; another 
bottle of Johannisberger, 67; proposes to 
arm the negroes, 76. 

Canning, Stratford, in Washington, 311. 

Carey, Henry C, ubiquity of his writings, 98. 
Matthew, of Philadelphia, 390. 

Carlyle,Thomas, his French history inspired 
Dickons, 294. 

Carroll, Charles, grandson of the signer of 
the Declaration of Independence, 189; a 
day with, 190 ; his career, 191 ; practical 
anti-slavery convictions, 192. 

Cartter, Chief Justice, his share in the nom- 
ination of General Grant, 286, 

Cass, General, mistaken for John Guy, 165. 

Cavendish, Lord Frederick, a reminiscence 
by, 36. 

Cemeteries, 183. 

Centenary of 1776, preparing for it, 216. 

Changes of political opinions, examples of, 
in Webster, Buchanan, Clay, Calhoun, 53 ; 
in whole States, 54. 

Charleston visited by President Washing- 
ton, 258. 

Chess Player, the Automaton, 417. 
Players, enthusiasm of, 417. 

Childs, George W., his Public Ledger, 429, 
430 ; his generosity, ^\. 



Choate, Rufus, the great Massachusetts law- 
yer, 80; anecdote of, 81. 

Christ Church, Philadelphia, regularly at- 
tended by President Washington, 261. 

Christmas in Washington, 231, 

Chronicle, Daily and Weekly, Washington 
journals, 383, 427. 

Clay, Henry, in Philadelphia, 9 ; change of 
politics, 53 ; delighted in anecdotes, 83 ; 
made and retained friends, 146 ; did not 
forgive Buchanan's sharp practice, i8i ; 
bitter retort in the Senate, 182 ; death, 
183 ; a disappointed man, 325 ; with Sig- 
nor Blitz, 418. 

Clerk of the House, election of, 32. 

Clymer, Hiester, an "Old-line Whig," 55. 

Cobb, Howell, of Georgia, 40. 

Colored Race, able men of the, 337. 

Columbia, District of, 348. 

Congressional habits, change in, 32 1 ; social 
admixture, 322. 

Conklin, Seth, dies in a just cause, 211. 

Connell}', Harry, famous back-room of, 419 ; 
his character and friends, 420. 

Conrad, Robert T., of Philadelphia, death 
of, 29 ; his character and gifts, 31. 

Constellation, dinner on board of the, 310. 

Contrasts of character, Abraham Lincoln 
and Andrew Johnson, 165. 

Cooke, Henry D., first governor of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia, 348 ; his career, 349. 

Cooper-shop Refreshment Saloon, in Phila- 
delphia, during the Rebellion, 224. 

Corcoran, W. W., founds the Oak Hill Cem- 
etery at Georgetown, 184 ; his bank, 234. 

Cox, S. S., his "Buckeye Abroad," 283. 

Coyle, John F., 33 ; celebrates the wake of 
Albert Pike, 274. 

Crossley, Sir Francis, a public benefactor, 
408. 

Gushing, Caleb, an amateur editor, 28 ; 
sketch of, 227 ; his political antecedents, 
228 ; his varied endowments and acquire- 
ments, 229. 

Daily Critic, of Washington, 385. 

Dallas, Geo. M., Vice-President under J. K. 
Polk, 63 ; Embassador to England, 64. 

Dana, Richard H., 300. 

Davis, Henry Winter, our " Rupert of De- 
bate," 302. 



INDEX. 



439 



Davis, Jefferson, as a speaker, 58. 

Walter, of Maryland, 57. 
Dawson, John L., his *' Buried Joe San- 
ders" story, 274. 
Decoration Day in Washington, 91. 
Democracy, course and death of, 344. 
Democrats in Convention in 1844, 117. 
Diaries : of John Quincy Adams, 14 ; of 

James Buchanan, 14. 
Dickens, Charles, 294 ; his extensive human- 
ity, 400; his Christmas feelings, 401. 
Dimitry, Alexander, description of, 279. 
D'Orsay, Count, and Louis Napoleon, 368; 

his character, 370. 
Dougherty, Daniel, his lecture on Oratory, 

56. 
Douglas, Stephen A., compared with Wash- 
ington, 18; anecdote of, 19 ; mon- 
ument to, 20; great extent and 
variety of general information, 
2 1 ; supports annexation of Tex- 
as, 51 ; retained friends, 146 ; at 
the outbreak of the Civil War, 
225 ; his western tour, 225 ; dies 
at Chicago, 226; overborne by 
the South, 325 ; a defeated Pres- 
idential candidate, 362 ; his sons, 
226. 
Mrs. Stephen A., 307. 
Douglass, Frederick, on the Decoration Day, 
92 ; a great orator, 337. 

Elder, Dr., anecdote told by, 16. 

Ellet, Mrs. Mary, a nonogenarian, 221. 

European cities, how governed, 348. 

Evening Star, of Washington, 385. 

Ewing, George W., Indian Agent, a let- 
ter from, revealing the Slocum romance, 
208. 

Executive Session of the United States Sen- 
ate, 72. 

Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, proposed 
statues of Pennsylvania worthies in, 218 ; 
Art Gallery in, 406. 

Faulkner, Charles James, of Virginia, 57. 

Felton, Samuel M., his narrative of Mr. Lin- 
coln' s escape from assassination, 248. 

Fiction, truth in, 293. 

Fillmore, Millard, and Signer Blitz, 417. 

Fitzgerald, Thomas, his pictures, 98. 



Forrest, Edwin, Clay's apology to, 10 ; at 

the Astor House, 70 ; Sympathy with the 

Union, 76 ; at the Mills House, 77 ; letter 

from, 425. 
Forrest Letter, use made of, 13 ; statement 

relating to, 35. 
Forney, John W., elected Clerk of the 

House, 32 ; "Mazeppa" speech by, 33 ; 

letter from, at opening of the Thirty-fourth 

Congress, 109 ; edits Washingto7i Union, 

no; retires from, 194; solid compliment 

to, as Clerk of the House, 381. 
Franklin, Dr., his indignant reply to Lord 

Howe, 393. 
Frederick the Great and Lord Bristol, 265. 
Freedman's Savings Bank, in Washington, 

234- 
Fremont, John C, explores California, 314 ; 

opposed by T. B. Benton, 22. 
Freneau, Philip, extract from his satirical 

verses, 239. 

Gales & Seaton, of the National Intelli- 
gencer, 109. 
Geary, John W., anti-slavery Governor of 

Kansas, 32, 
Gibson, Chief Justice, 214 ; and Signor Blitz, 

417 ; on D. P. Brown, 214. 
Girard, Francis J., a versatile journalist, 
108. 
College, 407. 
Globe, Tlie Congressional, 105. 
Grant, General U. S., letter to, from Secreta- 
ry Stanton, on the capture of Rich- 
mond, 186 ; story of his first nomi- 
nation for President, 287 ; his dis- 
inclination, 288; his character re- 
sembles Washington's, 340. 
Mrs. U. S., in the White House, 312. 
Greeley, Horace, 69; his Log Cabin and 
Tribune, 328 ; his solid friendship, 374 ; 
Sumner's tribute to, 397 ; last interview 
with, 398. 
Guy, John, of Baltimore, and General Lewis 

Cass, unecdote of, 165. 
Gwin, Senator W. M., of California, 314. 

Hall, Dr. J. C, of Washington, his anec- 
dote of President Jackson, 189. 
Handwriting of public men, 421. 
Harper's Weekly, pictorial satire in, 329. 



440 



INDEX. 



Harrison, Joseph, Jr., of Philadelphia, 404; 
railwayism in Russia, 405 ; his patronage 
of art, 406. 

Hart, Emmanuel B., of New York, 70. 

Haskin, John B., 34. 

Hickman, John, Stevens's reply to, 37. 

Hiester, Isaac E., an "Old-line Whig," 55. 

History, falsity in, 293. 

Hoffman, David, of Baltimore, 220; receives 
a cockade from President Washington, 
221. 

Holland, Lady, 3 13, 

Holmes, Oliver Wendell, 300. 

Holt, Judge Joseph, vindicates the charac- 
ter of Richard M. Johnson, 323. 

Hooper, Samuel, of Boston, 300. 

Hotels, as they were and are, 164. 

Hunter, R. M. T., of Virginia, 57, 

Huntington, William S., early death of, 302. 

" Idiot Boy," recited by E. Forrest, 77. 
Illinois Central Railroad, 20. 

"Jack Cade," Conrad's drama of, 31. 
Jackson, Andrew, recommended James Bu- 
chanan for Secretary of State to 
President Polk, 63 ; anecdote of, 
65; his patriotism, 280; scene with 
an old postmaster, 281 ; with Mr. 
Wright, 283 ; freely characterized 
by Thomas F. Marshall, 329. 
Mrs. Andrew, in the White House, 

Sis- 
James S., of Kentucky, 34 ; his 
death on the battle-field, 95. 
Jacksonian Democrats, 343. 
Jarvis, Russell, an editorial writer, 428. 
Jay, John, his notice of theatricals in Phila- 
delphia, 269. 
" Jeannette and Jeannot," ballad of, 84. 
Jefferson, Mrs. Martha, her husband's epi- 
taph upon, 305. 
Thomas, described by an English 
traveler, 305 ; opens the Con- 
gressional Session, 306 ; first 
sends a written Message, 306 ; 
one of his receptions, 307 ; vis- 
its the North, 260 ; his charac- 
ter of Washington, 390 ; sketch 
of European sovereigns, 391 ; 
glad to leave office, 392 ; view 
of character, 393, 



Johnson, Andrew, advocated for the Vice- 
Presidency by Mr. Lincoln, 167 ; 
his false step at starting, 1 77 ; de- 
moralizes the Republican party, 
286. 
Mrs. A., in the White House, 312. 
Simeon M.,302. 
Jones, J. Glancy, defeat of, 120. 
Journalism in Washington, 104. 
Journalizing, advantages of, 15. 

Kansas, maltreatment of, 15. 
Know-Nothingism, 135. 
Kremer, George, his rebuff of John Ran- 
dolph's pedantry, 202. 

La7tcaster httelligencer mid Journal, 21. 
Lane, Miss Harriet,in the White House, 312. 
Langston, Prof J. M., his colored law-class 

at Howard University, Washington, 180. 
Latham, Milton S., of California, 315. 
Lawyers, preponderance of, as legislators, 

178 ; education for public life, 179. 
Leaders, future political, 351. 
Lectures, the era of, 272. 
Leland, Charles Godfrey, his Pennsylvania 

Dutch verses, 203. 
Leslie, Frank, pictorial satire in his Illus' 

trated Ne'wspa^er, 329. 
Levin, Lewis C, founds the Native Ameri- 
can Party, 131 ; his death, 144. 
Levds, Chief Justice, speech by, 432. 
Dixon H., of Alabama, 112. 
William D., an octogenarian, 97. 
Lincoln, Abraham, an original humorist, 38 ; 
his two inaugurations, 39; assas- 
sinated, 40; marked individual- 
ity of his character and tempera- 
ment, 86 ; his fitness for supreme 
office, 166; his liking for Shakes- 
peare, 167 ; some of his short 
sentences, 168 ; his uniform good 
temper, 176 ; raises the national 
flag in front of Independence 
Hall, 244 ; escape from threat- 
ened assassination, 248 ; passes 
through Baltimore, and arrives 
in Washington, 255 ; reply to the 
Kentucky Commissioners, 265 ; 
fond of the theatre, 272 ; his hu- 
manity, 295. 
Mrs., in the White House, 312. 



INDEX. 



441 



Lloyd, Clinton, his recitation of Pennsylva- 
nia Dutch verses, 203 ; of Lowell's Big- 
elow Papers, 204. 

Longevity in Philadelphia, 96. 

Longfellow, Henry W., 299. 

Lovejoy, Owen, of Illinois, 61 ; his death, 62. 

McClellan, Dr. George, of Philadelphia, 
a strong supporter of Henry Clay, 187. 

McClellan, General George B., a poet's trib- 
ute to, 267. 

McClintock, Dr. Jonas R., of Pittsburgh, a 
local historian, 88. 

McClure, A. K., of Pennsylvania, his career 
and ability, 326. 

McCook, General Robert, fine poem on the 
murder of, 331. 

McDougall, Senator James A., of Califor- 
nia, his career and character, 147 ; his pe- 
culiar eloquence, 148. 

McDowell, James, of Virginia, on admis- 
sion of California as a free State, 58 ; his 
death, 62. 

McMichael, Morton, 71. 

Mackenzie, R. Shelton, his description of 
Albert Pike, 278 ; of Alexander Dimitry, 
279. 

Madison and Jefferson visit the North, 260. 

Madison, Mrs., in the White House, 307. 

Maelzel, inventor of the Automaton Chess 
Player, 417. 

Marshall, E. C, of California, 315. 

Thomas F., his satirical sketch of 
Andrew Jackson, 329. 

Mason, James M., 57. 

Massachusetts, historians of, 346 ; wliat con- 
stitutes its greatness, 301, 

"Mazeppa" speech at Coyle's, 33 ; English 
reminiscence of, 36. 

Meredith, W. M., of Philadelphia, 385 ; con- 
flict with Thaddeus Stevens, 386. 

Mills House, the, on Capitol Hill, 75 ; for- 
merly Chief Justice Marshall' s residence, 
80. 

Mirabeau, death of, 399. 

Missouri Compromise, repeal of, 109. 

Monroe, Mrs. James, in the White House, 

3". 

Moore, Frank, his Rebellion Record, 329. 
Moran, Benjamin, Secretary of United States 
Legation in London, 36. 

T 



Morris, Robert, his house in Philadelphia, 

240. 
Muhlenburg, Henry E., visit to, 66 ; death 

of, 68. 
Municipal Government, 347. 
Murdock, James A., recites T. Buchanan 

Read's poems, 331. 
Mutiny suppressed by firmness, 297. 

Native Americans, L. C. Levin, their 
chief, 131. 

Nelson, General William, his difficulty with 
James S. Jackson, of Kentucky, 95. 

New England, intelligence of, 301 ; high cult- 
ure of, 345. 

New-year' s Calls, 237 ; President Washing- 
ton in New York, 238 ; in Philadelphia, 242. 

Noah, M. M., of New York, 362. 

Nye, James W., of Nevada, 396. 

Oak Hill Cemetery, at Georgetown, 

D.C., 184. 
" Occasional," of the Philadelphia Press, 

names General Grant for President, 287. 
Official Secrets, difficulty of keeping, 73. 
Officials, information possessed by aged, 296. 
Old-line Whigs, 54. 
Ome, James H., 303. 

Parker, Theodore, on George Washing- 
ton, 18. 

Patriot, The, Washington daily, 383. 

Patterson, General Robert, 96. 

Pennington, William, elected Speaker, 32. 

Pennsylvania, Senator Sumner's character 
of, 345 ; a local historian of, 346. 

Pennsylvanian, TJte, Daniel Webster's 
speech reported in, 10. 

Philadelphia, before and after Secession, 
224 ; the seat of Congress in, 249 ; the last- 
century belles of, 242 ; male celebrities of 
the time, 243 ; Lincoln raises the nation- 
al flag In front of Independence Hall, 244 ; 
Washington's daily life in, 261 ; old thea- 
tres in, 268 ; Republican National Con- 
vention in, 336; Colonial Congress in, 339. 

Pierce, Franklin, personal and public char- 
acter of, 12 ; distrust of James Bu- 
chanan, 13. 
Mrs. Franklin, in the White House, 
312. 



442 



INDEX. 



Pike, Albert, the Wake of, 274 ; his " Fine 
Arkansas Gentleman," 275 ; his speech, 
276 ; his own death song, 277 ; his person- 
al appearance, 278. 

Plantation patois, the, 194 ; eminent speak- 
ers using it, 197. 

Polk, James K., Presidency of, 22. 

Mrs. J. K., in the White House, 312. 

Porter, General Andrew, his command in 
Mexico, 292. 

Prentice, George D., journalist and poet, 76, 
327. 

Presidential election, comic side of, 327 ; 
satiric writers in, 327. 

Presidential tours originated with Washing- 
ton, 261. 

Presidents' wives, 304. 

Press, the Government, in Washington, 104 ; 
Thomas Ritchie, 106. 

Press, TJte Philadelphia, its conflict with 
pro-slavery Democracy, 120 ; names Gen- 
eral Grant for President, 287 ; with Presi- 
dent Buchanan, 363. 

Pryor, Roger A., a prisoner-guest, 38 ; as an 
orator, 57. 

Public Ledger, 427; its early history, 428; 
present position of, 429. 

Public Printing, the, formerly a job, 384. 

Purvis, Robert, of Byberry, his interesting 
experiences, 205 ; a representative man, 
337 ; an ornament to any circle, 339. 

Queen, John, his emancipation papers, 206. 

Randolph, John, of Roanoke, his duel with 
Henry Clay, 181. 

Rawle, William, Philadelphia lawyer, his re- 
lations with D. P. Brown, 213. 

Rawlins, John A., President Grant's friend- 
ship for, 288. 

Read, T. Buchanan, early death of, 330 ; his 
patriotic poem, "We Swear," 331; his 
"New Pastoral," 333 ; "The Apostro- 
phe," 335- 

Reade, Charles, a realistic romancist, 56. 

Reed, William B., editing James Buchan- 
an's Diary, 14 ; a fine political writer, 55 ; 
verses by, 82. 

Reeder, Andrew H., Governor of Kansas, 
13 ; removed by President Pierce, 32 ; in 
Congress, no. 



Religion in politics, 145, 

Republican National Convention in Phila- 
delphia, 336. 

Reybum, Dr. W. P., anecdote related by, 
290 ; what a cavalry charger did, 292. 

Ritchie, Thomas, journalist, sketch of, 107. 

Rives, John C, of the Washington Globe, 
anecdote of, 395. 

Roberts, Marshall O., New York, 69. 

Royall, Annie, newspaper satirist and nov- 
elist, 115. 

Rupp, I. Daniel, a historian of Pennsylvania, 
346. 

Rush, Richard, describes Washington's 
opening of Congress, 262. 

Russell, William H., Times correspondent 
in Washington, 76. 

Savage, John, at Albert Pike's Wake, 
277. 

Savannah visited by President Washington, 
259. 

Schlomberg, the Automaton Chess Player, 
417. 

Scott, Colonel T. A., of Pennsylvania Cen- 
tral Railroad, 99 ; Assistant Secretary of 
War, loi ; his business rapidity of action, 
103 ; his habits, 104. 

Seaver, William A., of New York, 70. 

Sergeant, John, of Philadelphia, 197 ; a mod- 
erate fee, 199. 

Seward, William H., sustains President An- 
drew Johnson, 286; defeated at Chicago 
by A. Lincoln, 326 ; as a biographer, 353 ; 
death of, 372. 

Shunk, Francis R., Governor of Pennsylva- 
nia, 68. 

Sickles, Daniel E., 69; Secretary of Legation 
in England, 318; his mission to Spain, 
426, 

Slavery created changes of political opin- 
ions, 54. 

Slidell, John, reply to by Robert J. Walker, 
121; his secession speech, 152; his life 
and death, 156. 

Slocum, Frances, a Wilkesbarre child, her 
life among the Indians, 208 ; marries and 
grows old in the tribe, 209. 

Smith, Gerritt, of New York, 151. 

long-lived family of, in Philadelphia, 
96. 



INDEX. 



Smith, William Prescott, of Baltimore, 538 ; 

character and accomplishments of, 359. 
Social Reminiscences of Washington, 273. 
Soule, Pierre, on the Compromise Meas- 
ures, 9 ; character of, 57. 
South, brilliant rhetoric of the, 57. 
Southern Congressmen, 57; institutions, 17 ; 
slaveholders, grotesque manners and hab- 
its of, 194. 
Speaker, election of, 32, 375 ; speeches at, 
376 etseq.; high compliment to J. W. For- 
ney, 381. 
Stanton, Edwin M., 76 ; his position and ac- 
tion as War Minister, 185 ; letter 
to Gen. Grant on the taking of 
Richmond, 186 ; his friendship 
for D. E. Sickles, 425 ; on his 
death-bed, 426. 
Fred. P., Secretary of Kansas, 119. 
Steam-traveling, 162. 
Stebbins, Colonel, of New York, 69. 
Stetson, Charles, of the Astor House, 68. 
Stevens, Thaddeus, anecdotes of, 37; his 
relations with George Wolf, 281 ; attacked 
the Masonic order and joined the Know- 
Nothings, 386. 
Still, Peter, story of, 210. 

William, his Under -ground Railroad 
record, 204. 
Stockton, Commodore, his wager with James 

Buchanan, 74. 
Stormy Session, a, 109 ; two months' delay 
over election of Speaker, 1 10 ; Nathaniel P. 
Banks chosen by a majority of three, iii. 
Story, Mr. Justice, and Annie Royall, 115. 
Sullivan, John T., of Washingtqn, general 
hospitality of, 64. 
John T. S., college-mate of Charles 
Sumner, 71. 
Sully, Thomas, the artist, 97. 
Sumner, Charles, refinement of his tastes, 
83 ; in peril at Baltimore, 158 ; his opinion 
of Pennsylvania, 346. 
Sumter, firing upon, opens the Civil War, 158. 
Superior City stock, speculation in, 19. 
Swain, William M., anecdote of, 365. 
Swift, John, Ex-Mayor of Philadelphia, 9. 

Taine, Henri A., on biography, 411. 
Teny, David S., kills Senator Broderick in 
a duel, 28. 



443 

Texas, annexation of, opposed by J. Q. Ad- 
ams, 48 ; supported by Stephen A. Doug- 
las, 51. 
Thompson, Chief Justice James, of Penn- 
sylvania, 83. 
John R., of New Jersey, a strong 
Unionist, 42. 
Toombs, Robert, of Georgia, the stormy pet- 
rel of debate, 58. 
Traveling forty years ago, 162. 

Unconscious courage, anecdote of, 290. 
U/tioft, a. former Washington journal, 107. 
Utility, the Age of, 352. 

Van Buren, John, a dinner-table despot, 70. 
Martin, had few realfriends, 146. 
Victoria, Queen, Sully's portrait of, 97. 

Walker, Robert J., anti-slavery Governor 
of Kansas, 32 ; at the Baltimore Conven- 
tion, 118 ; his career, 119 ; sent to Europe 
by President Lincoln, 121; writes in the 
London Titnes., 121. 
Walsh, Mike, of New York, 113. 
Ward, Sam, of Washington, a courteous au- 
tocrat of the dinner-table, 394. 
Washington, George, at the Mills House, 
Washington, 80; at table, 
221 ; Presidential tour 
through the South, 257 ; his 
traveling carriage, 257 ; his 
daily life in Philadelphia, 
261 ; how he opened Con- 
gress, 262 ; domestic habits 
of, 262 ; at the Philadelphia 
theatre, 270 ; letter to Mat- 
thew Carey, 390 ; his char- 
acter by Jefferson, 391. 
Mrs., in Philadelphia, 261 ; 
her person and dress, 263 ; 
her disinclination for grand 
entertainments, 304. 
Thirty years ago, 231 ; its ad- 
vance into a great city, 233 ; 
Freedmen's Savings Bank 
in, 234 ; municipal govern- 
ment of, 348 ; a newspaper 
sepulchre, 382. 
Washington Sunday Morning Chronicle, 
427. 



444 



INDEX. 



Washington Union, organ of President 
Pierce, no. 

Webster, Daniel, Tariff speeches of, lo ; on 
the Presidential nomination, 1 1 ; change 
of politics, 54 ; defeated by Winfield Scott, 
80 ; appreciation of humor, 83 ; death, 183 ; 
his retort to Signor Blitz, 417. 

Weed, Thurlow, 69. 

Westward Ho ! 357. 

Wharton, George M., an " Old-line Whig," 

55- 

Wikoff, Henry, his devotion to Louis Napo- 
leon, 366 ; visits the prisoner of Ham, 369, 

Wilkes, Captain, of the San Jacinto, cap- 
tures Mason and Slidell at sea, 156. 



Wilkins, Judge William, of Pennsylvania, 
87 ; character of, 88 ; his mental trial of 
Jefferson Davis, 89. 
Wilson, Henry, of Massachusetts, 341 ; his 
character and talents, 342. 
William J., Cashier of Freedman's 
Savings Bank in Washington, 
234- 
Wise, Henry A., opposes Know-Nothing- 
ism, 135; his public life, 144; Governor 
of Virginia, 145. 
Wits in Congress, 83. 

Wright, Frances (Madame Frances d'Arus- 
mont), her socialistic theories, 115. 
Silas, a great logician, 83. 



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THE RISE OF 
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By JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY. 

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It is not often that we have the pleasure of commending to the attention of the 
lover of books a work of such extraordinary aud unexceptionable excellence as 
this one.— Universalist Quarterly Review. 

There are an elevation and a classic polish in these volumes, and a felicity of 
grouping and of portraiture, which invest the subject with the attractions of a 
living and stirring episode in the grand historic drama. — Sotithern Methodist 
Quarterly Review. 

The author writes with a genial glow and love of his subject. — Presbyterian 
Quarterly Review. 

Mr. Motley is a sturdy Republican and a hearty Protestant. Ilis style is live- 
ly and picturesque, and his work is an honor and an important accession to our 
national literature. — Church Review. 

Mr. Motley's Avork is an important one, the result of profound research, sincere 
convictions, sound principles, and manly sentiments; and even those who are 
most familiar with the histoiy of the period will find in it a fresh and vivid ad- 
dition to their previous knowledge. It does honor to American literature, and 
would do honor to the literature of any country in the world. — Edinburgh Re. 
view. 

A serious chasm in English historical literature has been (by this book) very 
remarkably filled. * * * A history as complete as industry and genius can make 
it now lies before us, of the first twenty years of the revolt of the United Prov- 
inces. * * * All the essentials of a great writer Mr. Motley eminently possesses. 
His mind is broad, his industry unwearied. In power of dramatic descriptiou 
no modern historian, except, perhaps, Mr. Carlyle, surpasses him, and in analy* 
Bis of cliaracter he is elaborate and distinct. — Westminster Review. 



Mr. Motley^ the Amirican historian of the United Nttherlands—we owe Mm 
Encjlish homage. — Lonuoh Times. 

^Aa interesting ae a romance, and as reliable as a proposition of Euclid,** 



History of 
The United Netherlands. 

FROM THE DEATU OF WILLIAM TUB SILENT TO THE TWELVE YEARS* TRDOE. 

WITU A FULL VIEW OF TUE ENGLI8U-DUTCII STKUGGLE AGAINST 

SPAIN, AND OF TUE ORIGIN AND DESTRUCTION 

OF TUE SPANISH ARMADA. 

By JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY, LL.D., D.C.L., 

Corresponding Member of the Institute of France, Author of "The Rise of the 
Dutch Republic." 

With Portraits and Map. 

4 vols. Svo, Mnslin, $14 Oft 

Critical Soticcs. 

Ilia living and truthful picture of eyeuta.—Qriartcrli/ Revieiv (London), Jan . 
1861. 

Fertile as the present age has been in historical works of the highest merit 
none of them can be ranked above these volnmes in the grand qualities of interest^ 
accuracy, and truth — Edinburgh Quarlerly Review, Jan., ISGl. 

This noble work — Westminster Review (London). 

One of the most fascinating as well as important histories of the century Cor, 

N. y. Evening Post. 

The careful study of these volumes will infallibly afford a feast both rich and 
ra re. — Ballim ore Rejniblica u. 

Already takes a rank among standard works of history London Critic, 

Mr. Motley's prose epic. — London Spectator. 

Its pages are pregnant with instruction — London Literary Gazette. 

We may profit by almost every page of his narrative. All the topics which rgi- 
tate us now are more or less vividly presented in the History of the United Nether- 
lands Neif York Times. 

Bears on every page marks of the same vigorous mind that produced "The Risg 
of the Dutch Republic;" but the new work is riper, mellower, and though equally 
rscy of the soil, softer flavored. The inspiring idea which breathes through Mr. 
Motley's histories and colors the whole texture of hU narrative, is the grandeur of 
that memorable struggle in the 16th century by which the human mind broke the 
thraldom of religions intoleranca and achieved its independence The World, N. V. 

The name of Motley now stands in the very front rank of living historians. Ilia 
Dutch Republic took the world by surprise ; but the favorable verdict then given 
13 now only the more deliberately confirmed on the publication of the continued 
story under the title of the His'ory of the United Netherlands. All the nerve, 
and power, and substance of juicy liife are there, lending a charm to every page.— 
Church Journal, X. Y. 

Motley, indeed, has produced a prose epic, and his fighting scenes are as real, 
epirited, and life-like as the combats in the Iliad The Press (Phila.). 

Ilis history is as interesting as a romance, and as reliable as a proposition of Eu- 
clid. Clio never had a more faithful disciple. We advise every reader whose 
means will permit to become the owner of these fascinating volnmes, assuring him 
that he will never regi-et the investment Christian Intelligencer, N. Y. 

Published hy HARPER & BROTHERS, 

Franklin Square, Nevr York. 

t^" Harper & Brothers will send the above Work by Mail, postage pre-paid 
(for any distance in the United States under 3000 miles), on receipt of the Money. 



By the Author of "John Halifax." 



These novels form a most admirable series of popular fiction. They are marked by 
their faithful delineation of character, their naturalness and purity of sentiment, the 
dramatic interest of their plots, their beauty and force of expression, and their elevated 
moral tone. No current novels can be more highly recommended for the family library, 
while their brilliancy and ^-ivacity will make them welcome to everj- reader of cultiTated 
taste. 

HANNAH. Svo, Paper, 50 cents ; i2mo, Cloth, $1 50. 
MOTHERLESS ; or, A Parisian Fanaily. Translated from the French 

of Madame De Witt, «£v Guizot. For Girls in their Teens. Illus- 
trated. i2mo, Cloth, $1 50. 
FAIR FRANCE. Impressions of a Traveller. i2mo. Cloth, $1 50. 
A BRAVE LADY. With Illustrations. Svo, Paper, Si co ; Cloth, 

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A LIFE FOR A LIFE. Svo, Paper, 50 cents ; i2mo. Cloth, $1 50. 
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OUR YEAR. Illustrated. i6mo. Cloth, Gilt Edges, $1 00. 
STUDIES FROM LIFE. i2mo, Cloth, Si 25. 
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Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York. 

Harper & Brothers will send either of tJie abov^ works by mail, postage 
prepaid, to any part of tht United States, on receipt of the price. 



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